House Votes to Raise the Minimum Wage
The United States House of Representatives voted today to raise the minimum wage effective October of this year. The bill entitled, “Raise the Wage Act”, passed the House on a vote of 248-191, with fifteen Republicans voting in favor and one Democrat voting against. The “Raise the Wage Act” will “increase the federal minimum wage for regular employees over a 7-year period, for tipped employees, and for newly hired employees who are less than 20 years old.” The act calls for the current federal minimum wage of $7.25 to be raised to $8.55 an hour in October of this year, then $9.85 an hour the next year, and to be then raised at the following increments the subsequent four years: $11.15 an hour, $12.45 an hour, $13.75 an hour, and $15.00 an hour respectively. The bill now needs to pass the Senate, where Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has already stated “that hiking the minimum wage to $15 would kill jobs and depress the economy… We are not going to be taking that up in the Senate.”
0 Comments