Lawmakers, activists and consumers have been calling to increase the federal minimum wage to $15 for years. It could happen under President-elect Biden.
The federal minimum wage which is currently $7.25 per hour, has not been updated since 2009 and is an unlivable income in most of the U.S. It may soon get an upgrade. Lawmakers, activists and consumers have been calling for an increase in the minimum wage for years. In 2019, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill called the Raise the Minimum Wage Act, which would lift federal minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2025. The bill has more support than ever to become law. President-elect Joe Biden has pledged to boost the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour, eliminate the tipped minimum wage and index minimum wage to the median hourly wage, inline with the U.S. House act. Still, there are obstacles ahead. It’s highly unlikely that a Republican-controlled Senate would pass the bill, as majority leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said he would not take up the legislation when it was passed by the House in 2019. But flipping the Senate is not out of the question. Two key races in Georgia will be decided by runoff elections in January. Raising the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour over time would boost paychecks and reduce poverty. A recent study from the Congressional Budget Office found that a minimum-wage increase to $15 by 2025 would increase paychecks for roughly 27 million American workers and lift 1.
