(Daily Signal)—Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., introduced a bill on Tuesday that would more than double the federal minimum wage.
Hawley’s bill, titled the Higher Wages for American Workers Act, would increase the federal minimum wage to $15 per hour in 2026 with future increases tied to inflation. Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vt., has joined Hawley on the effort as a co-sponsor.
“The woke corporations have been eager to raise prices on everybody and employ as many illegals as possible—but they don’t want to pay Americans a good wage,” Hawley told The Daily Signal. “That should change. If they can afford to pay their CEOs millions, they can afford to pay hard-working Americans a decent wage.”
In a previous statement, Hawley said that “for decades, working Americans have seen their wages flatline. One major culprit of this is the failure of the federal minimum wage to keep up with the economic reality facing hardworking Americans every day.”
“This bipartisan legislation would ensure that workers across America benefit from higher wages,” Hawley added.
If signed into law, the $15 minimum wage would more than double the $7.25 per hour minimum. Hawley’s home state of Missouri already has plans to raise its minimum wage to $15 next year, and 30 states and the District of Columbia have already set minimum wages over the federal minimum. Only 10 of those states and D.C., however, have set minimum wages at $15 or more.
Eight states, on the other hand, default to the federal minimum wage by either not setting a minimum wage or setting a minimum wage below the federal level.
The $7.25 per hour federal minimum wage has not changed since 2009. In 2007, Congress passed a series of incremental increases to the federal minimum wage, the last of which took place on July 24, 2009, when the minimum wage increased from $6.55 to $7.25 per hour. If the last minimum wage increase was pegged to inflation, the federal minimum wage would now be over $10.50; however, inflation rates can vary by state and locality.
Welch, Hawley’s Democrat co-sponsor, told CBS, “We’re in the midst of a severe affordability crisis, with families in red and blue states alike struggling to afford necessities like housing and groceries.”
“A stagnant federal minimum wage only adds fuel to the fire. Every hard-working American deserves a living wage that helps put a roof over their head and food on the table—$7.25 an hour doesn’t even come close,” Welch added.
E.J. Antoni, chief economist at The Heritage Foundation, told The Daily Signal that Hawley’s proposal is “another surefire way to eliminate jobs, especially starter jobs that people need to climb the ladder of success.”
For example, Antoni said, “It’ll force fast food businesses toward more automation.”
“The minimum wage is nothing more than failed central planning by the very bureaucrats who caused artificially high unemployment in the first place,” Antoni added.
Though Hawley’s bill bucks the long-held Republican orthodoxy on the minimum wage, he’s not the first Republican to question the current level of the minimum wage.
During an interview with NBC’s Kristen Welker in December 2024, then-President-elect Donald Trump said the minimum wage is “a very low number.”
Trump, however, said to tread carefully.
“Let me give you the down side, though. In California they raised it up to a very high number. And your restaurants are going out of business all over the place. The population is shrinking. It’s had a very negative impact,” Trump said.
“You have a lot of businesses that are open and thriving because of the lower minimum wage. If you raise it too much—and you understand this, California went crazy. They went crazy. And people—the restaurants are closing all over. Many more people are hurt,” Trump continued.
Nevertheless, Trump added, “But there is a level at which you could do it, absolutely.”
Trump told Welker he “would consider” raising the minimum wage but he would “want to speak to the governors” first.
“The other thing that is very complicated about minimum wage is places are so different. Mississippi and Alabama and great places are very different than New York or California, I mean in terms of the cost of living and other things,” Trump said.
“So it would be nice to have just a minimum wage for the whole country, but it wouldn’t work because you have places where it’s very inexpensive to live, where a minimum wage which is at $8 or $9 might be, you know, might have very little effect because the cost of living in certain places is really low.”
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