Democrats unveil legislation raising federal minimum wage to $17 an hour

Rep. Bobby Scott (D-Va.) and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) introduced the Raise the Wage Act of 2025 on Tuesday in both chambers with hopes of increasing the federal minimum wage.

The bill would raise the minimum wage to $17 by 2030 according to the Economic Policy Institute. The current federally mandated hourly wage is $7.25 and has not increased since 2009.

“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 22 million workers across this country,” said Scott, who is the ranking member of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce. 

“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,” he added.

The legislation, which has 142 co-sponsors in the House, would index future pay increases while phasing out the subminimum wage for tipped workers and subminimum wage for youth workers, in addition to ending subminimum wage certificates for workers with disabilities.

“In the year 2025, a job should lift you out of poverty, not keep you in it. At a time of massive income and wealth inequality, we can no longer tolerate millions of workers trying to survive on just $10 or $12 an hour,” Sanders, who caucuses with Democrats, said in a release. He described current pay rates as a “starvation wage.” 

“Congress can no longer ignore the needs of the working class of this country. The time to act is now,” the ranking member on the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions continued.

The lawmakers' proposed legislation would account for a gradual increase in the federal minimum wage over a five-year period.