WASHINGTON – Senators Tim Kaine and Mark Warner, both Democrats from Virginia, joined other Democrats in introducing a bill to raise the federal minimum wage to $15 by 2025. It’s called the Raise the Wage Act of 2021.
A study conducted by the Commonwealth Institute found that approximately 1,018,000 Virginians would have their wages raised under the Raise the Wage Act of 2021, while another 254,000 Virginians who make just above the new minimum would see increases, as well as employers, seek to maintain wage scales and reward seniority. Combined, one in every three working people in Virginia will benefit from raising the wage.
“Going forward, what we should do with minimum wage is we should try to probably index it like we social security payments and other things, and have the minimum wage increase slightly rather than set it, don’t do anything with it then have a big jump,” stated Sen. Kaine Thursday.
The Raise the Wage Act of 2021 would increase the federal minimum wage over a four-year period from $7.25 to $15. It would also index future increases in the federal minimum wage to median wage growth in addition to phasing out the subminimum wage for tipped workers, youth workers, and workers with disabilities.
A copy of the bill text can be found here.