Congressional Democrats Move to Raise Minimum Wage to $15 per Hour

    House and Senate Democrats have introduced legislation that will raise federal minimum wage from its current $7.25 to $15 by 2025.

     Currently 29 states, including New York and Washington, DC, have had minimum wages above the $7.25 an hour, which has been the federal minimum wage since 2009. 

     In New York, on Dec. 31, 2020, the state’s Minimum Wage Act went into effect, requiring all employees to receive at least $12.50 an hour and wage increases each year until $15.00 per hour is reached.

     The Congressional Democrats’ call for higher wages would require all states to pay workers at least $9.50 an hour on the date of that Raise the Wage Act of 2021 becomes effective. Then, employers would be required to provide yearly increases in salaries until $15 an hour is reached after an estimated four years.

     The battle over a $15 federal minimum wage has been going for years. Advocates of the $15 minimum wage argue that bigger paychecks could reduce poverty for millions of Americans, while the vast majority of Republicans oppose the large wage increase, which can actually cause more unemployment as the expense of increased wages would reduce the number of employees business can afford to hire, says a frum business school professor.

      In addition, many small businesses worry that an enforced high federal minimum wage will intensify their financial struggles to recover during the coronavirus pandemic.

     The House had voted to raise the minimum wage to $15 in July of 2019, but Mitch McConnell (R-Ky), who was then the Senate’s Majority Leader, prevented a vote on the issue. 

     "What concerns me as much as anything is that half our people are living paycheck to paycheck," said Sen. Bernie Sanders, (D-Vt), who noted that the pandemic was worsening most Americans’ economic situations. "Millions of people are trying to survive on starvation wages. For me, it's morally imperative that we raise the minimum wage to a living wage that’s at least $15 an hour."

   Sanders explained to the Guardian today that the likelihood of passing the $15 minimum wage is now higher, thanks to a new administration. Convincing Republicans to accept the legislation, however, is expected to remain the chief difficulty, said Sen. Sanders, who as the incoming chairman of the powerful Senate Budget Committee will have a central role in shaping and steering the Democrats’ tax and spending plans.