Senator Bernie Sanders Introduces $17 Minimum Wage Bill

WASHINGTON — Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) introduced a bill Thursday that would gradually increase the federal minimum wage to $17 an hour, more than double the current rate of $7.25.

Flanked by labor leaders on Capitol Hill, Sanders said the Democrats’ previous goal of raising the minimum wage to $15 will no longer be enough. The minimum wage has eroded so much that lawmakers should aim higher, he argued.

“It’s time to pass a new living wage,” Sanders said. “As a result of inflation, $15 an hour would be more than $17 today.”

Although most states have increased their minimum wages in recent years, the federal rate of $7.25 applies in 20 states They don’t demand a higher one. Congress has not voted to raise the federal minimum wage since then-President George W. Bush signed a series of increases into law in 2007.

Democrats have tried for years to raise the minimum wage, but Republicans have stymied them. In recent years, Democrats have pushed for a $15 minimum wage, the rallying cry of the Fight for $15 labor campaign, which began in the fast-food industry in 2013 and helped push for increases in the local minimum wage around the world. country.

But Sanders, who chairs the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, said minimum wage workers continue to fall behind each year as the cost of living rises.

a recent analysis by the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute found that in states where the federal minimum wage prevails, many of them in the South, 19% of workers earn less than $15 an hour. In the 30 states that have set a minimum wage above the federal level, that figure drops to 13%.

Although unions and other progressive allies could raise about $17, Sanders’ legislation is unlikely to pass the Senate, where Democrats hold a slim majority.

No Republican senator accepted the Democrats’ $15 proposal, so there is little reason to think any of them would support the higher rate of $17. Sanders may also have a hard time attracting more moderate members of his own party, such as Sen. Joe Manchin (DW.V.), who never supported $15.

In 2021, the Senate rejected a Sanders measure that would have raised the minimum wage to $15. Eight Senate Democrats he voted with all Republicans against the measure.

The new bill would also be dead when it reaches the GOP-controlled House, where Republicans are unlikely to propose any minimum wage legislation.

Some Republican lawmakers have raised the idea to compromise with the Democrats on a more moderate increase. In 2021, Sens. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) and Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) said they would be willing to raise the minimum wage to $10 over five years, but key Democrats couldn’t participate. that number or a GOP immigration measure that was included.

Though unlikely to pass, Sanders’ bill is likely intended to unify the labor movement around a new goal for workers’ rights after years of high inflation and a possible recession on the horizon.