As reported by CNN, this Thursday, the House passed a bill that would raise the federal minimum wage for the first time in 10 years. Most Democrats voted for the bill, with the overall House vote totalling to 231-199. Three Republicans - Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, Francis Rooney of Florida and Chris Smith of New Jersey - also voted pro. With Six Democrats, on the other side, voting against the bill - Anthony Brindisi of New York, Joe Cunningham of South Carolina, Kendra Horn of Oklahoma, Ben McAdams of Utah, Kurt Schrader of Oregon and Xochitl Torres Small of New Mexico. Though this is a small victory for a movement that has taken a little under seven years to make it to this point, there's reportedly a very small chance that it will actually be taken up in the Republican-controlled Senate.
The "Raise the Wage" Act plans on brining the federal minimum wage up gradually from $7.25 to $15 by the year of 2025. But in the current form it takes, the bill has no major support from the Republican side. In March, House Democrats had started the process of passing the bill, but struggled greatly in getting support from "more moderate" members. In recent weeks, however, party leaders made some important adjustments to get more lawmakers on board. To be precise, they increased the timeline from five to six years, as well as adding a requirement that the government study the impact the bill would have on the economy after it was put into effect, with the chance for Congress the ability to make adjustments in the future. Fast food workers began protesting for higher pay all the way back in 2012, but at the time, a $15 minimum wage was too ambitious. Since then however, some cities and states (including Seattle, San Francisco, New York City and later all of California and NY State) have taken to raising their local minimum wages to $15 an hour on their own accord-- including Seattle, San Francisco, New York City and then all of California and New York State. McDonald's only just announced this year that it would stop lobbying against the cause, and even Amazon adopted a $15 minimum rate last year. Most Republicans have voiced opposition to the bill, over concerns that raising the wage to $15 would result in too many jobs lost. The US Chamber of Commerce has said that it is indeed willing to raise the minimum wage, but that $15 is "out of the question."