Missouri GOP Sen. Josh Hawley plans to introduce laws Tuesday to boost the federal minimum wage to $15 per hour — a place that aligns one of the vital conservative Republican lawmakers on Capitol Hill with among the most liberal members of Congress.
The laws, referred to as the “Larger Wages for American Staff Act,” would elevate the federal normal beginning in 2026 and would additionally name for a rise in subsequent years to match inflation, CBS Information has solely discovered. Vermont Democratic Sen. Peter Welch has signed on as a co-sponsor.
“For many years, working People have seen their wages flatline. One main perpetrator of that is the failure of the federal minimal wage to maintain up with the financial actuality going through hard-working People each day,” Hawley mentioned in an announcement to CBS Information. “This bipartisan laws would be certain that staff throughout America profit from greater wages.”
“We’re within the midst of a extreme affordability disaster, with households in purple and blue states alike struggling to afford requirements like housing and groceries,” Welch mentioned in an announcement to CBS. “A stagnant federal minimal wage solely provides gasoline to the hearth. Each hard-working American deserves a residing wage that helps put a roof over their head and meals on the desk–$7.25 an hour would not even come shut.”
The federal minimal wage at the moment sits at $7.25 per hour and has not risen since 2009, based on the U.S. Division of Labor.
The transfer by Hawley places him at odds with conservative celebration orthodoxy, which has historically opposed a federal minimal wage enhance on the grounds that it could be pricey for companies and finally, for shoppers. However Hawley’s pitch is reflective of the celebration’s realignment within the Trump period, the place the president’s model of populism has fueled a shift amongst working-class voters away from Democrats and in the direction of Republicans.
Hawley has been pushing Republicans to embrace this shift. The minimal wage laws is a part of a broader, aspirational bundle of legislative proposals he dubbed the “Professional-Employee Framework for the 119th Congress.” This features a proposal to assist strengthen protections for union jobs, in addition to for organizing and collective bargaining.
Earlier this 12 months, he teamed up with Sen. Bernie Sanders to introduce laws to cap bank card rates of interest at 10%. And within the final Congress, he launched laws that will require firms with revenues of $1 billion or extra to pay their staff at the very least $15 per hour. In current weeks, Hawley has been urging his celebration towards cuts to Medicaid advantages within the budget reconciliation bill.
In November, voters in Hawley’s house state of Missouri permitted a poll measure to boost the state’s minimal wage to $15 per hour, beginning in 2026. However the Legislature repealed a part of the legislation that will enable later will increase to regulate for inflation.
Earlier this 12 months, President Trump rescinded a Biden-era govt order that raised the minimal wage for federal contractors to $17.75 per hour. At his Senate affirmation listening to in January, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent mentioned he doesn’t assist elevating the federal minimal wage, arguing that it’s a resolution finest left as much as the states.
