Obama to sign minimum wage executive order on Wednesday

WASHINGTON -- President Obama on Wednesday will sign his promised executive order to raise the federal minimum wage to $10.10 on new federal contracts, according to White House spokesman Matt Lehrich.

Obama announced during his State of the Union Address last month that he would take unilateral action on raising the minimum wage in the coming weeks. Administration officials have been finalizing details of the order since he made his announcement.

The order will cover people who perform janitorial, kitchen work and other low-wage services on behalf of federal contractors in the future. The action is eventually expected to help roughly 250,000 workers.

The decision by Obama, who has backed Democratic-proposed legislation to raise the federal minimum wage for all workers, came after weeks of calls from liberal lawmakers urging him to use his executive authority to address the contract workers' plight. Low-paid contract workers at federal buildings in Washington also staged a series of one-day strikes in recent weeks.

In the State of the Union speech, Obama highlighted his use of the executive order and called on Congress to follow up with support for legislation sponsored by Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, and Rep. George Miller, D-Calif., that would gradually raise the minimum wage for all workers to $10.10 per hour by the end of his presidency.

"America does not stand still -- and neither will I," Obama said. "So wherever and whenever I can take steps without legislation to expand opportunity for more American families, that's what I'm going to do."