House Passes Bill to Raise Federal Minimum Wage to $15 Per Hour

The House passed a bill on Thursday that would raise the federal minimum wage to $15, marking the first rise in a decade.

Raise the Wage
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Image via Getty/Alex Wong

Raise the Wage

The House passed a bill on Thursday that would raise the federal minimum wage to $15, marking the first rise in a decade, CNN reports. While the bill still needs to be taken up by the Republican-controlled senate, it's still a step forward.

The House vote was 231-199, with three Republicans supporting it, and six Democrats opposing it. The bill, known as the Raise the Wage Act, would see the federal minimum wage raise from $7.25 to $15 per hour by 2025. House Democrats first started the process to pass the bill in March, but some of the more moderate members of the Democrats weren't as interested in showing their support. When the initial phase-in time was change from five to six years, as well as a proposition to study the impact the bill would have once in place, it started to gain more support in the House.

Fast food workers first began protesting for a $15 minimum wage in 2012, and since then, cities such as Seattle, San Francisco, and New York City have raise their local minimum wages to match the figure. McDonald's famously lobbied against raising the federal minimum wage, but recently announced they would stop doing so. Meanwhile, Walmart's CEO said that the federal minimum was "too low." 

For the most part, Republicans have protested the bill, reiterating that it could possibly result in more lost jobs. Larry Kudlow, the White House economic adviser, has said that he's not in favor of a federal minimum wage. He added that it would hurt small businesses and is a "terrible idea." The White House has indicated that Donald Trump would not support the bill if it arrived on his desk.

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