07.25.23

Labor Leaders Introduce Bill to Raise Minimum Wage

The Raise the Wage Act of 2023 would gradually raise the minimum wage to $17 by 2028 and give roughly 28 million Americans a long-overdue raise.

WASHINGTON – Today, Ranking Member Robert C. “Bobby” Scott (D-VA), House Committee on Education and the Workforce, and Chairman Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, introduced the Raise the Wage Act of 2023. The Raise the Wage Act would gradually raise the minimum wage to $17 by 2028 and give roughly 28 million Americans a long-overdue raise.

“No person working full-time in America should be living in poverty. The Raise the Wage Act will increase the pay and standard of living for nearly 28 million workers across this country. Raising the minimum wage is good for workers, good for business, and good for the economy. When we put money in the pockets of American workers, they will spend that money in their communities,” said Scott. 

“The $7.25 an hour federal minimum wage is a starvation wage.  It must be raised to a living wage – at least $17 an hour,” said Sanders. “In the year 2023 a job should lift you out of poverty, not keep you in it.  At a time of massive income and wealth inequality and record-breaking corporate profits, we can no longer tolerate millions of workers being unable to feed their families because they are working for totally inadequate wages. Congress can no longer ignore the needs of the working class of this country. The time to act is now.”

After more than a decade with no increase in the federal minimum wage—the longest period in U.S. history—millions of our nation’s workers are working full-time jobs but are still struggling to make ends meet. One in eight U.S. workers are paid wages that leave them in poverty, even when working full time and year-round. And there is now no place in America where a full-time worker making the federal minimum wage can afford to cover the rent for a modest two-bedroom apartment. 

The Raise the Wage Act is good for workers, good for business, and good for the economy. When we put money in the pockets of workers, they will spend that money at local businesses.  The Raise the Wage Act will ensure that everyone can share in a stronger economy.

The Raise the Wage Act of 2023 would:

  • Gradually raise the federal minimum wage from $7.25 to $17 by 2028; 
  • Index future increases in the federal minimum wage to median wage growth to ensure the value of minimum wage does not once again erode over time; 
  • Guarantee tipped workers are paid at least the full federal minimum wage by phasing out the subminimum wage for tipped workers, which will ensure decent, consistent pay without eliminating tips;
  • Guarantee teen workers are paid at least the full federal minimum wage by phasing out the rarely used subminimum wage for youth workers; and
  • End subminimum wage certificates for workers with disabilities to provide opportunities for workers with disabilities to be competitively employed and participate more fully in their communities.

 

The Raise the Wage Act of 2023 has 150 original House co-sponsors, including Representatives Adams, Aguilar, Balint, Barragan, Beatty, Blumenauer, Blunt Rochester, Bonamici, Bowman, Boyle, Brown, Brownley, Budzinski, Bush, Carbajal, Cárdenas, Andre Carson, Cartwright, Casar, Casten, Castor, Castro, Chu, Clarke, Cleaver, Clyburn, Cohen, Connolly, Courtney, Craig, Crockett, Crow, Danny K. Davis, Dean, DeGette, DeLauro, DelBene, Deluzio, DeSaulnier, Dingell, Doggett, Escobar, Eshoo, Espaillat, Evans, Foster, Foushee, Frankel, Frost, Garamendi, Chuy Garcia, Robert Garcia, Goldman, Gomez, Gottheimer, Grijalva, Hayes, Himes, Holmes Norton, Horsford, Hoyer, Hoyle, Huffman, Ivey, Jeff Jackson, Jackson Lee, Jacobs, Jayapal, Hank Johnson, Kaptur, Keating, Robin Kelly, Khanna, Kildee, Kilmer, Andy Kim, Krishnamoorthi, Larsen, John B. Larson, Barbara Lee, Summer Lee, Leger Fernandez, Levin, Lieu, Lofgren, Lynch, Magaziner, Matsui, McBath, McClellan, McCollum, McGarvey, McGovern, Menendez, Meng, Mfume, Moore, Morelle, Moulton, Mrvan, Mullin, Nadler, Neguse, Norcross, Omar, Pallone, Panetta, Pascrell, Payne, Pelosi, Pingree, Pocan, Porter, Pressley, Quigley, Ramirez, Raskin, Ross, Sánchez, Sarbanes, Scanlon, Schakowsky, Schiff, David Scott, Sewell, Sherman, Slotkin, Adam Smith, Stansbury, Stevens, Swalwell, Sykes, Takano, Thanedar, Bennie Thompson, Titus, Tlaib, Tokuda, Tonko, Ritchie Torres, Trahan, Trone, Underwood, Vargas, Velázquez, Wasserman Schultz, Watson Coleman, Wexton, Nikema Williams, and Frederica Wilson. 

The Raise the Wage Act of 2023 has 29 original Senate co-sponsors, including Baldwin, Blumenthal, Booker, Brown, Cantwell, Cardin, Duckworth, Durbin, Feinstein, Fetterman, Gillibrand, Hirono, Kaine, Klobuchar, Markey, Merkley, Murphy, Murray, Padilla, Peters, Reed, Schatz, Smith, Stabenow, Van Hollen, Warren, Welch, Whitehouse, and Wyden. 

To read the bill text for the Raise the Wage Act of 2023, click here. 

To read the fact sheet on the Raise the Wage Act of 2023, click here. 

To read the section-by-section Raise the Wage Act of 2023, click here. 

Press Contact

Kota Mizutani (Scott)

Freeland Ellis (Sanders)