Will Congress Raise the Minimum Wage?

FEATURING KATE KAHAN – In spite of the Congressional Budget Office showing the positive economic impacts of raising the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour, Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough on Thursday rejected the raise from the Covid relief bill that is being considered by Congress. If Democrats want to use a simple majority in the Senate via a “budget reconciliation” process, they cannot now include a federal minimum wage raise in the $1.9 trillion law. Senate Budget Committee chair Bernie Sanders was livid saying he would find another way, including raising taxes on major corporations that don’t pay their workers a living wage. The current federal minimum wage is a paltry $7.25 an hour.

Kate Kahan, Legislative and Advocacy Director at Community Change.