A $15 Minimum Wage is Now a Majority Opinion among Congressional Democrats. But Who’s Not on Board Yet?
On the tenth anniversary of the Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2017, House and Democrats called for something bolder: a $15 minimum wage.
Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Representative Bobby Scott (VA-03) introduced the Raise the Wage of Act of 2017, with a press conference featuring Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Ranking Democrat on the HELP Committee Patty Murray (D-WA), House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (CA-12), House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (MD-05), Tulsi Gabbard (HI-02), Keith Ellison (MN-05), and union activists.
The federal minimum wage remains the $7.25 it was in July 2009 after the Fair Minimum Wage Act (a Democratic campaign promise in the 2006 elections) took full effect. That $7.25 was not a living wage in 2009, and it is not a living wage now. In all honesty, a $15 minimum wage is no longer a living wage either (according to MIT data, the living wage in the United States is $15.84 per hour, before taxes for a family of four), but it is nonetheless an important step up.
The Raise the Wage Act of 2017 has the support of 31 out of the 48 members (65%) of the Senate Democratic Caucus and 150 out of 193 (78%) House Democrats, along with non-voting delegates Eleanor Holmes Norton of DC and Gregorio Sablan of the Northern Mariana Islands.
This is a big increase from 2015, when Sanders’s Pay Workers a Living Wage Act only had 5 co-sponsors: Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Dick Durbin (D-IL), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Ed Markey (D-MA), and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA). And Keith Ellison’s House companion bill had only 56 co-sponsors. They should all be commended for being out in front. The increase in support among Congressional Democrats is a major testament to the Fight for $15’s organizing.
However, the 2015 bills, it should also be noted, were stronger than what was introduced this week. Here was the schedule that the 2015 bill used to reach $15/hour.
(1) $9.00 an hour on January 1, 2016, or, if later, on the first day of the third month after enactment of this Act
(2) $10.50 an hour after one year
(3) $12.00 an hour after two years
(4) $13.50 an hour after three years
(5) $15.00 an hour after four years
(6) the amount the Secretary of Labor determines (based on increases in the median hourly wage of all employees) after five years, and annually thereafter.
By contrast, the new bill would take until 2024.
Significantly, though, both create a schedule and formula by which to bring the tipped minimum wage up to the general minimum wage.
That a $15 minimum wage is now a majority position in the Democratic caucus in both houses is a great achievement. But it would be even better to see it be a unanimously held position among Congressional Democrats.
So who hasn’t signed on yet?
Here are the 17 stragglers in the Senate Democratic Caucus:
Michael Bennet (D-CO)
Tom Carper (D-DE)
Bob Casey (D-PA)
Chris Coons (D-DE)
Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV)
Joe Donnelly (D-IN)
Maggie Hassan (D-NH)
Martin Heinrich (D-NM)
Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND)
Angus King (I-ME)
Joe Manchin (D-WV)
Bob Menendez (D-NJ)
Claire McCaskill (D-MO)
Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH)
Jon Tester (D-MT)
Tom Udall (D-NM)
Mark Warner (D-VA)
And here are the 43 stragglers in the House:
Ami Bera (CA-07)
Sanford Bishop (GA-02)
Julia Brownley (CA-26)
Kathy Castor (FL-14)
Emanuel Cleaver (MO-05)
Gerry Connolly (VA-11)
Jim Cooper (TN-05)
Lou Correa (CA-46)
Jim Costa (CA-16)
Henry Cuellar (TX-28)
Ted Deutch (FL-22)
Lloyd Doggett (TX-35)
Bill Foster (IL-11)
Vicente Gonzalez (TX-15)
Josh Gottheimer (NJ-05)
Jim Himes (CT-04)
Bill Keating (MA-09)
Joe Kennedy (MA-04)
Ron Kind (WI-03)
Annie Kuster (NH-02)
Al Lawson (FL-05)
Dan Lipinski (IL-03)
David Loebsack (IA-02)
Michelle Lujan Grisham (NM-01)
Stephen Lynch (MA-08)
Donald McEachin (VA-04)
Jerry McNerney (CA-09)
Greg Meeks (NY-05)
Richard Neal (MA-01)
Tom O’Halleran (AZ-01)
Beto O’Rourke (TX-16)
Ed Perlmutter (CO-07)
Collin Peterson (MN-07)
Cedric Richmond (LA-02)
Jacky Rosen (NV-03)
Dutch Ruppersberger (MD-02)
Brad Schneider (IL-10)
Kurt Schrader (OR-05)
David Scott (GA-13)
Kyrsten Sinema (AZ-09)
Tom Suozzi (NY-03)
Niki Tsongas (MA-03)
Filemon Vela (TX-34)
Notably, Washington is the largest state to have a full Democratic delegation supporting a $15 minimum wage. And, on the flip side, Massachusetts, despite its liberal reputation, is the only state with more than one Democratic representative to have only minority support for a $15 minimum wage among its Democratic House delegation.
