Senator Murray Praises Inclusion of $15/Hour Federal Minimum Wage in Biden-Harris COVID-19 Rescue Plan

President-elect Biden’s COVID-19 relief plan includes provisions that would raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour and end subminimum wages for tipped workers and workers with disabilities

Murray: “Now more than ever, it’s time to give millions of workers a sorely-needed and much-deserved raise and finally ensure having a job in America means being able to put a roof over your head and food on the table”

(Washington, D.C.) – Today, Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), top Democrat on the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, praised President-elect Biden for his plan to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour and end the use of subminimum wages for tipped workers and workers with disabilities.

Senator Murray has long fought to increase the minimum wage and give workers a raise. Since the last minimum wage increase over ten years ago, Senator Murray has pushed to pass her Raise the Wage Act, a bill she introduced with Senator Bernie Sanders and Congressman Bobby Scott.

“This pandemic has shown just how much our economy is benefitting the wealthiest individuals and corporations, while failing workers across the country, and in particular, workers of color. During this pandemic, we have rightly called the essential workers who are keeping our country running ‘heroes’—but millions of them are working full time while risking exposure to COVID, and still struggling to make ends meet. It’s absolutely unacceptable.

“President-elect Biden’s relief plan rightly calls for every worker in America to be paid a fair wage, by increasing the minimum wage to $15 an hour and ending subminimum wages for tipped workers and workers with disabilities. Now more than ever, it’s time to give millions of workers a sorely-needed and much-deserved raise and finally ensure having a job in America means being able to put a roof over your head and food on the table.”

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