{"id":72256,"date":"2026-06-28T20:14:19","date_gmt":"2026-06-29T00:14:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/?p=72256"},"modified":"2026-06-28T20:14:29","modified_gmt":"2026-06-29T00:14:29","slug":"a-bill-to-raise-the-minimum-wage-to-25-an-hour-will-be-introduced-in-the-senate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/2026\/06\/28\/a-bill-to-raise-the-minimum-wage-to-25-an-hour-will-be-introduced-in-the-senate\/","title":{"rendered":"A bill to raise the minimum wage to $25 an hour will be introduced in the Senate"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full is-resized\"><img data-dominant-color=\"a78d7b\" data-has-transparency=\"false\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"259\" height=\"194\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 259px) 100vw, 259px\" src=\"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/download-16.webp\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-72257 not-transparent\" style=\"--dominant-color: #a78d7b; width:355px;height:auto\"\/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) introduced the <strong>Living Wage for All Act<\/strong>, a major piece of bicameral legislation aimed at boosting the federal minimum wage from its current $7.25 rate up to <strong>$25 an hour<\/strong>.<sup><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Because a sudden jump would disrupt the economy, the bill lays out a multi-year, two-track phase-in plan:<sup><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>The Initial Step:<\/strong> In the first year of enactment, the federal minimum wage would rise to <strong>$12 an hour<\/strong>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Large Corporate Employers:<\/strong> Businesses with massive market power would be required to reach the $25 floor by <strong>2032<\/strong>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Small Businesses:<\/strong> Smaller employers are given a longer runway, with a deadline of <strong>2039<\/strong> to fully comply.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Phasing Out Subminimum Wages:<\/strong> The bill gradually eliminates lower wage floors for tipped workers, youth workers, and workers with disabilities, bringing everyone under a unified standard.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Future Proofing:<\/strong> Once the $25 mark is achieved, the wage floor would automatically adjust annually to equal two-thirds of the national median wage.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The Political Outlook<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Proponents, backed by labor unions and groups like One Fair Wage, point out that nearly 45% of U.S. workers currently earn less than $25 an hour and argue the boost is necessary to handle soaring housing and grocery costs.<sup><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Conversely, critics and business groups warn that a mandatory $25 floor could force small businesses to cut hours, reduce staff, or raise consumer prices to cover the sudden spike in labor costs.<sup><\/sup> Given that Republicans control both chambers of Congress, the bill faces steep political hurdles and is highly unlikely to pass, but it sets a clear baseline for the progressive economic platform moving forward.<sup><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For a closer look at the lawmakers&#8217; arguments and the official announcement, you can watch the <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=_0s6k15GBgU\">$25 Minimum Wage Press Conference<\/a>, which features the full speeches from the bill&#8217;s sponsors detailing why they are pushing for this specific wage target.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) introduced the Living Wage for All Act, a major piece of bicameral legislation aimed at boosting the federal minimum wage from its current $7.25 rate&hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":72257,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","inline_featured_image":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"wpai_generated_summary":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"dois","default_image_id":71799,"font":"","enabled":true,"token":"eyJpbWciOiJodHRwczpcL1wvaTAud3AuY29tXC9sYWtlbGFuZGdhemV0dGUuaW5mb1wvbmV3c1wvd3AtY29udGVudFwvdXBsb2Fkc1wvMjAyNlwvMDZcL2Rvd25sb2FkLTE2LndlYnA_Zml0PTI1OSUyQzE5NCZzc2w9MSIsInR4dCI6IkEgYmlsbCB0byByYWlzZSB0aGUgbWluaW11bSB3YWdlIHRvICQyNSBhbiBob3VyIHdpbGwgYmUgaW50cm9kdWNlZCBpbiB0aGUgU2VuYXRlIiwidGVtcGxhdGUiOiJkb2lzIiwiZm9udCI6IiIsImJsb2dfaWQiOjE2MzA0MDY2MX0.TI5yPPN8eCPoW_JoINdymGgQuNJ__Y49lciXKOEPbeMMQ"},"version":2,"media_source":"sig","attached_media":[{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/jetpack.com\/redirect\/?source=sigenerate&query=t%3DeyJpbWciOiJodHRwczpcL1wvbGFrZWxhbmRnYXpldHRlLmluZm9cL25ld3NcL3dwLWNvbnRlbnRcL3VwbG9hZHNcLzIwMjZcLzA2XC9kb3dubG9hZC0xNi53ZWJwIiwidHh0IjoiQSBiaWxsIHRvIHJhaXNlIHRoZSBtaW5pbXVtIHdhZ2UgdG8gJDI1IGFuIGhvdXIgd2lsbCBiZSBpbnRyb2R1Y2VkIGluIHRoZSBTZW5hdGUiLCJ0ZW1wbGF0ZSI6ImRvaXMiLCJmb250IjoiIiwiYmxvZ19pZCI6MTYzMDQwNjYxfQ.g3Ct3P9XJmM1cpzMSQLB2pAg5voUnk4iWCGbcrXndLEMQ","type":"image\/jpeg"}]},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[17],"tags":[15036],"class_list":["post-72256","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-regional-and-world-news","tag-a-bill-to-raise-the-minimum-wage-to-25-an-hour-will-be-introduced-in-the-senate"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72256","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=72256"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72256\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":72259,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72256\/revisions\/72259"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/72257"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=72256"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=72256"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=72256"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}