The amendment to add an increase to the federal minimum wage to Biden’s $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill failed to pass the Senate earlier this month. Despite that, we can expect it to remain high up on the agenda during the course of Biden’s tenure. In fact, other lawmakers have already proposed two other options.
The Higher Wages for American Workers Act is sponsored by Republicans Mitt Romney and Tom Cotton. It proposes to gradually increase hourly pay from $7.25 to $10 over the course of five years. Then after every two years, pay would increase to match the rate of inflation.
Additionally, Sen. Josh Hawley proposed the Blue-Collar Bonus Tax Credit. In this case, workers who make less than $16.50 an hour would receive quarterly payments from the IRS to make up the difference.
Wyoming also has a new bill on the table to increase its minimum wage to $15 per hour.
