Bernie Sanders Just Introduced a Bill to Raise the Minimum Wage to $15 an Hour

By Gregory Krieg July 22, 2015

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) is bringing the "fight for 15" to Capitol Hill.

Flanked by high-ranking members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, the Democratic presidential candidate on Wednesday introduced new legislation to more than double the federal minimum wage from $7.25, where it has remained since 2009, to $15 an hour by 2020.

"In the richest country on the face of the earth, no one who works 40 hours a week should be living in poverty," Sanders said, calling the current rate a "starvation wage." The proposal would also close "the loophole that allows employers to pay tipped workers a shamefully low $2.13 an hour," he said.

Reps. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.), Raul Grijalva (D-Ariz.) and Sheila Jackson-Lee (D-Texas) are the lead sponsors of a companion bill arriving in the House of Representatives. In the upper chamber, Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) is co-sponsoring the legislation.