Bills introduced to raise federal minimum wage to $12

From Illinois Business Journal news services

WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin, D-Illinois, on Thursday joined U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, D-Washington, and U.S. Congressman Bobby Scott, D-Virginia, in introducing a bill to raise the minimum wage to $12 by 2020.

The Raise the Wage Act would also phase out the $2.13 tipped wage and would index the minimum wage to median wages.

“If you go to work and work hard for 40 hours a week, you should not be living in poverty in America,” Durbin said. “The Raise the Wage Act will increase wages for 38 million workers — more than one in four — and lift millions out of poverty. In Illinois alone, 1.6 million workers — 28 percent of the state’s workforce — will see an average increase in wages of $3,200 a year. That helps families get off government support programs and give them more money to spend and put back into our economy.”

“No one who works hard in a full-time job should have to live in poverty. We owe it to workers across the country to make sure our minimum wage is set to a level that works for them and their families.” said Murray. “Raising the minimum wage to $12 by 2020 is a key component to helping more families make ends meet, expanding economic security, and growing our economy from the middle out, not the top down.”

In the House of Representatives, Congressman Scott introduced a companion bill to raise the minimum wage to $12 by 2020.