Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) wants to double the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour, with legislation filed Tuesday to increase the rate adopted nearly two decades ago.
“For decades, working Americans have seen their wages flatline,” Hawley said in a statement to The Hill. “One major culprit of this is the failure of the federal minimum wage to keep up with the economic reality facing hard-working Americans every day.”
The increase would take effect next year, when Hawley’s home state hikes its rate to the same level.
Most states, like Missouri, have set minimum hourly wage levels above the $7.25 federal rate, and nearly a dozen of them will have minimum rates at or above $15 an hour after increases take effect this year.
Five states — Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina and Tennessee — have never set their own rates, and three — Georgia, Oklahoma and Wyoming — have state minimums below $7.25 per hour. Those eight states all default to the federal rate.
The Hawley legislation, cosponsored by Sen. Peter Welch (D-Vt.), also would set automatic increases to match inflation over time to prevent future standstills like the nation has faced since the last federal hike in 2009.
Minimum wage hikes have historically faced pushback from some business advocacy groups.
“This proposal would more than double the minimum wage and slash over 800,000 jobs,” Rebekah Paxton, research director at the Employment Policies Institute, said in a statement on Hawley’s latest push. “An overwhelming majority of economists agree that drastic minimum wage hikes cut employment, limit opportunities for workers and shutter businesses.”
“Hawley’s proposal would take similar failed policies like California’s and export them nationwide,” she added.
It’s unclear whether the GOP-controlled Senate and House will take up the bipartisan legislation or what the timeline could look like as lawmakers try to hash out President Trump’s priority legislation.
The White House declined to comment on Hawley’s proposed minimum wage increase. A spokesperson told The Hill in an email that they would not “get ahead of the President on pending legislation.”
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent rejected the idea of increasing the minimum wage earlier this year.
But Trump acknowledged in a “Meet the Press” interview a month before the start of his second presidency that the current minimum wage is “very low” but said he didn’t want to raise it to a level that would ultimately force businesses to shutter.
“There is a level at which you could do it, absolutely,” the then-president elect told host Kristen Welker. “I would consider it.”
Trump added that the debate is “very complicated” because the cost of living varies among states.
“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,” he said.
