On April 30, 2014, the U.S. Senate failed to pass a measure (S.2223) that would have increased the federal minimum wage from $7.25 to $10.10 per hour by 2016, at which time it would be permanently indexed to inflation.

One of the most vocal organizations opposing the bill was the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB), the nation's leading small business advocacy organization.

In her testimony to Congress on April 29, Susan Eckerly, senior vice president, public policy, for the NFIB, noted, "Like most government mandates on business, raising the minimum wage will have a deep and disproportionate impact on the small business sector, because small businesses are the least able to absorb such dramatic increases in their labor costs. The small business sector has historically created two-thirds of net new private jobs in the U.S. economy, but has failed to recover in recent years because of a series of policies that increase the burden on small business owners - increases in healthcare costs, higher taxes, more costly regulations, and now the minimum wage increase proposal."