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Congresswoman Suzan DelBene (WA-01) today helped introduce the Raise the Wage Act, which would raise the federal minimum wage to $12 an hour by 2020.

“Strong economic growth can only be achieved when all working families have the opportunity to succeed,” DelBene said. “To build an economy that works for everyone, we need to ensure Americans working a 40-hour week aren’t living below the poverty line. Congress should raise the minimum wage to $12 an hour to restore the middle class and help families thrive.”

The Raise the Wage Act, introduced by Congressman Bobby Scott (VA-03) and Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), would gradually increase the federal minimum wage from $7.25 to $12 an hour over five years. It would also index future minimum wage increases to the median wage and slowly eliminate the tipped minimum wage, which is currently $2.13 an hour. Tipped workers would then make the same as other minimum wage earners.

The bill would give nearly 40 million hard-working Americans a raise, including the parents of 18 million children. Nearly two-thirds of minimum wage workers are women and more than 70 percent of workers in tipped professions are female.

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