Key Democrats in the House and Senate have introduced legislation to phase in a federal minimum wage increase to $17/hour. The five-year phase-in would hike the federal minimum wage, which is currently $7.25/hour, to $17/hour by 2030. The bill would also index the minimum wage for inflation, and would phase out the subminimum wage for youth, tipped and disabled workers. It would be the first federal minimum wage increase since 2009.

The legislation, “Raise the Wage Act of 2025,” was introduced on April 8 by House Education & the Workforce ranking member Rep. Bobby Scott (D-VA) and Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee ranking member Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT). Sen. Sanders caucuses with the Democrats. There are 142 cosponsors of the House bill, and 33 cosponsors of the Senate bill.

Many state and local jurisdictions have minimum wage requirements that exceed the federal minimum wage standard. A few have lower minimum wages and another handful follow the federal government. In practice, the highest of the minimum wage standards governs. As of the first of this year, 34 states, territories and districts have laws that set the minimum wage above $7.25/hour. Five states have not adopted their own minimum wage, instead using the federal minimum wage standard. Three states have minimum wage laws that set the minimum wage below the federal $7.25/hour standard (but in practice their minimum wage is the federal $7.25/hour

Prospects: This legislation is a Democratic priority and therefore unlikely to get much, if any, traction in a Congress totally controlled by Republicans.

NAIFA Staff Contact: Jayne Fitzgerald – Director – Government Relations, at jfitzgerald@naifa.org