congress
NEW YORK (77WABC) – Increasing the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour would result in the loss of 1.4 million jobs, according to a Congressional Budget Office (CBO) average estimate detailed in a report released Monday.
The Raise the Wage Act would also raise the budget deficit $58 billion, according to the CBO analysis. The dramatic increase would potentially jeopardize the ability of Democrats to pass the bill through budget reconciliation, which is how Independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders suggested he would then try to turn it into law.
Democrats re-introduced the bill, which passed the Democrat-controlled House of Representatives in 2019, on Jan. 26th. It is supported by both Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
“We think the odds of an increase to $15 are low,” said Goldman Sachs chief economist Jan Hatzius.
The existing federal minimum wage is $7.25 an hour. It hasn’t been raised since 2009 despite across the board inflation. President Biden is calling for the federal minimum wage hike to be included in the new $1.9 trillion covid-19 relief package.
What effect would the Raise the Wage Act of 2021 have on the federal budget?https://t.co/AO6M72sttE
— U.S. CBO (@USCBO) February 8, 2021
