Will the Biden administration raise the federal minimum wage?

This appeared in The Millennial Source

It’s an ambitious policy goal that would dramatically affect the incomes of low-wage earners. Only time will tell if Democrats in Congress will actively pursue it.

With President-elect Joe Biden set to take office in less than two weeks, focus is shifting to what policies the new administration will tackle. With Democrats Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff having won their races in the Georgia runoff elections, Democrats are set to take control of the Senate, giving Biden more leeway to deliver on his campaign promises.

One of Biden’s economic promises was that he would support raising the federal minimum wage to US$15 an hour. This would more than double the current national minimum wage of US$7.25 an hour, a figure that has held steady since 2009 despite inflation and the rising cost of living.

The Democrat-controlled House of Representatives did pass a bill in July 2019 that would have gradually raised the national minimum wage to that level over the following six years. However, that bill was never taken up by Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.

At the time, some expressed opposition to the House’s bill, calling it “a devastating blow to small businesses.”