$15 minimum wage edges closer as Democrats win Senate control

On Jan 7, 2021

President-elect Joe Biden (C) along with Democratic candidates for the U.S. Senate Jon Ossoff (L) and Rev. Raphael Warnock (R) greet supporters during a campaign rally the day before their runoff election in the parking lot of Centerparc Stadium in Atlanta.

Chip Somodevilla | Getty Images

A $15 federal minimum wage edged closer after Democrats won two U.S. Senate seats in Georgia, according to NBC News projections, unifying government under the Democratic Party.

Such a pay boost would more than double the current federal minimum wage, $7.25 an hour, but would likely face resistance from some Republicans and business groups.

The Rev. Raphael Warnock, a Democrat, beating the Republican incumbent, Sen. Kelly Loeffler, in the runoff contest on Tuesday, according to NBC News.

Democrat Jon Ossoff won against Republican David Perdue, whose Senate seat expired Sunday, in the other Georgia race, according to NBC News.

Their victories handed Democrats control of the Senate, the House and the presidency. Congress was scheduled to confirm President-elect Joe Biden’s win over President Donald Trump on Wednesday before protests disrupted the proceedings.

“It’s absolutely a priority,” Mark Hamrick, senior economic analyst at Bankrate, said of Democrats passing legislation to set a higher pay floor.

Democrats, especially those from the party’s liberal wing, have long pushed to raise the national minimum wage. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, an independent who typically votes with Democrats, said in a Tuesday tweet that a $15 minimum wage was at stake in Georgia’s runoff election.

Proponents of increasing the pay floor argue the current standard doesn’t provide a livable wage for Americans.

$15,080 a year

The federal minimum wage, currently $7.25 an hour, hasn’t been raised since 2009. That wage translates to $15,080 for a full-time, year-round worker, according to the National Employment Law Project.

Its value has eroded over time, since the wage doesn’t rise along with the cost of living.

Warnock and Ossoff are advocates for a $15 minimum wage, a point they stressed many times in recent months. Biden pledged to raise the wage floor to $15 an hour. The House voted to do so in 2019.

Several states, cities and counties recently increased their minimum wages, many to $15 or higher. Forty cities and counties will have met or exceeded a $15 minimum wage by the end of 2021, according to the National Employment Law Project.

“Over the last 40 years, what we’ve seen in America is that wages for working people have been crushed while returns to shareholders have gone through the roof,” Ossoff said on the campaign trail.

A higher wage would disproportionately help Black and Hispanic workers over other groups such as Whites and Asians, research shows. In December,…