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Democrats Again Introduce $15/Hour Minimum Wage Legislation


Recently, Senators Bernie Sanders (an Independent who traditionally will caucus with Democrats) and Patty Murray (a Democrat) introduced legislation in the United States Senate to raise the federal minimum wage rate to $15/hour.  Readers might recall that senator Sanders introduced similar legislation back in 2015.  However, that bill failed to garner much support (let alone enough support to make it a realistic possibility that the bill would actually pass). With that being said, the bill introduced last week has the initial support of nearly two dozen Senators and has garnered a great deal of media attention (due in large part to Senator Sanders having an elevated profile and 'rock star' status among the Democratic base after his run for President).  

The bill proposes to raise the federal minimum wage rate from the current hourly rate of $7.25/hour to $9.25/hour this July, to $12/hour by 2020, and finally to $15/hour by 2024.  From that point forward, the hourly federal minimum wage rate would rise in tandem with median wage growth.

For those readers wondering what kind of chance the bill, known as the Raise the Wage Act, has of becoming law, I would caution to not hold your breath.  While Democrats have introduced this bill to great fanfare and appear to have a solid foundation of support in the Senate (and also the House where a companion bill was introduced), they are the minority party.  Of course, although the Democrats are a vocal minority in Congress, unless significant pressure can be exerted on Republicans to get the necessary votes to pass this legislation, this bill will either again fail to pass or result in a watered down version being ultimately passed (likely with a lower minimum wage increase and/or a longer phase in period).  For the time being, that might be the most realistic outcome Democrats can hope for until they regain majority control of Congress (and possess a veto proof majority so long as a Republican is in the White House).



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