Engel Votes to Raise Federal Minimum Wage to $15 an Hour

  Congressman Eliot L. Engel, a top member on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, today voted in favor of raising the federal minimum wage to $15 dollars an hour.

The Raise the Wage Act would increase wages for 33 million American workers, according to the Economic Policy Institute, by incrementally raising the federal minimum wage to $15 dollars an hour by 2025. Analysis by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) concluded the legislation would lift 1.3 million Americans out of poverty, including 600,000 children, and would help narrow the gender pay gap for nearly 20 million women. Engel, who is an original cosponsor of the Raise the Wage Act, has been a longtime advocate for increasing the federal minimum wage to $15 dollars an hour and was a vocal supporter of New York’s efforts to raise their minimum wage as part of the 2016-2017 state budget.  

“This is about treating the American worker fairly at a time when corporate interests have run amok,” Engel said.“Working men and women who earn the federal minimum wage are barely hanging on as costs rise across the board for food, housing, medical care, you name it. While these working families are struggling to make ends meet, big corporations are basking in record profits with CEOs and shareholders reaping the rewards. We need to rebalance the scales here. Raising the federal minimum wage isn’t just the right thing to do from an economic justice perspective—it’s also the right thing to do for our economy. More money in the pockets of American workers means more money staying in the community, flowing to local business. States like New York, which have already raised their minimum wage, have proven that this tack works. I was proud to cosponsor and vote for this bill, and I hope our Senate colleagues will join us in standing up for working-class Americans.”