Sponsor
Al Green
Representative · D-TX
Representative · D-TX
The bill would substantially raise and regularize the federal minimum wage—boosting earnings and predictability for low‑paid workers and housing affordability for some families—but would increase labor costs for businesses and governments, risking job losses, higher consumer prices, and uneven effects across lower‑cost regions.
Low-income workers (and many middle-income families) would see substantially higher wages—moving the federal minimum toward about $26.59 by 2030 and otherwise increasing pay—lifting annual earnings for workers near the bottom.
Workers and employers would get more predictable, regular minimum-wage updates (via inflation-indexing or scheduled recalculations), reducing political uncertainty and shrinking the lag between pay and cost-of-living changes.
Renters and households with two full-time minimum-wage earners (including many dual‑earner families) would be more likely to afford housing because the policy aims to ensure two full-time minimum-wage incomes exceed the national housing wage.
Small businesses would face higher labor costs, which could lead to reduced hiring, fewer hours, business closures, or higher consumer prices.
Some low-skill and entry-level workers could lose jobs or see reduced hours as employers adjust staffing to absorb higher mandated wages.
Automatic increases tied to wage formulas could raise government payroll bills (local, state, federal), putting pressure on budgets and potentially forcing cuts to services or staff.
Based on analysis of 3 sections of legislative text.
Phases the federal minimum wage to $26.59/hr by Jan 1, 2030 and establishes a 7-year automatic adjustment tied to the BLS renter-family supplemental poverty threshold.
Official title: To amend the Fair Labor Standards Act to provide for the calculation of the minimum wage based on the Federal supplemental poverty threshold for a renter family of 4, with 2 children under the age of 18, as determined by the Bureau of the Census, and for other purposes.
Introduced January 3, 2025 by Al Green · Last progress January 3, 2025
Raises the federal hourly minimum wage in steps to $26.59 by January 1, 2030 and creates an automatic adjustment process tied to the Bureau of Labor Statistics supplemental poverty threshold for a renter family of four, reviewed every seven years beginning in 2030. It also expresses the nonbinding sense of Congress that minimum wages should be adjusted when inflation rises and that wages should cover housing costs and be above 40% of the supplemental poverty threshold for renting families.