WASHINGTON—U.S. Senators Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), a member of the U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), and U.S. Representatives Joe Courtney (D-Conn.-02), Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.-03), and Jahana Hayes (D-Conn.-05) joined 171 members of Congress and 85 organizations from across the country in introducing the Raise the Wage Act of 2025. This bicameral legislation would ensure American workers make a living wage, drive economic growth, and reduce income inequality by raising the minimum wage to $17 for all workers and gradually eliminating subminimum wages for tipped workers, workers with disabilities, and youth workers. The minimum wage in Connecticut is $16.35 per hour.

“It’s shameful that there are millions of people in this country who work full-time jobs and yet they can’t afford rent or pay for their groceries. Raising the federal minimum wage to $17 would help 42,000 workers in Connecticut keep up with the cost of living, but it’s just a start. Our economy is failing working people, and I will keep fighting for a future where hard work gives everyone in this country a fair shot at the American Dream,” said Murphy.

“Low wages have impoverished workers in our country for too long. Raising the minimum wage would drive much-needed economic growth, reduce wealth inequality, and raise 22 million Americans across the country out of poverty. I’m proud to support the Raise the Wage Act and I urge my colleagues to do the same because working class Americans deserve economic security,” said Blumenthal.

"American workers have gone for more than a decade without a raise in the federal minimum wage," said Courtney. "At a pitiful $7.25 an hour, the current federal minimum wage does not provide working people with a paycheck that meets the true cost of living. Increasing the minimum wage and indexing it to inflation will go a long way to helping 42,000 Connecticut workers meet their basic needs. ”

“Working-class Americans are struggling with the high cost of living, and Democrats are moving policies to put more money in their pockets right now,” said DeLauro. “The Raise the Wage Act would ensure the minimum wage is $17 for all workers, strengthening economic security for workers across America – including the 42,000 minimum wage earners in Connecticut. I am proud to join my colleagues in championing this critical legislation.”

"Connecticut has been ahead of the curve in providing workers with a livable wage," said Hayes. "The benefits of raising the federal minimum wage would be far-reaching, as there has been no change since 2009 at the federal level. A person who works should be paid a living wage that meets their basic needs."

Last year, nearly one in four workers in the U.S. made less than $17 per hour. The Raise the Wage Act of 2025 would raise the federal minimum wage to $17 over five years, eliminate the tipped subminimum wage over seven years, eliminate the subminimum wage for workers with disabilities over five years, and eliminate the subminimum wage for youth workers over seven years. According to analysis by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), passing the Raise the Wage Act of 2025 would provide raises to over 22 million workers across the country by 2030.

In 2024, voters in Missouri and Alaska overwhelmingly voted to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour. In 2022, voters in Nebraska voted to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour. In 2020, Florida voted to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour. As a result of inflation, $15 an hour a couple of years ago would be over $18 an hour today. Moreover, if the minimum wage had increased with worker productivity over the last 57 years, it would be over $23 an hour today, not $7.25 an hour.

Over the last 50 years, nearly $80 trillion in wealth has been redistributed from the bottom 90 percent of America to the top one percent. Today, the value of the current federal minimum wage – $7.25 per hour – is the lowest it has been since 1956 and has declined by over 32 percent since it was last increased in 2009. While approximately four million tipped workers in the U.S. depend on tips for as much as half of their income or more, the tipped sub-minimum wage has remained stagnant at just $2.13 per hour since 1991. The current median wage for at least 37,000 workers with disabilities is just $3.50 per hour.

Meanwhile, across every state in the country, a living wage for a worker in a family with two working adults and one child is greater than $17 per hour, according to the Economic Policy Institute’s (EPI) Family Budget Calculator. Many of these low-wage workers face persistent economic insecurity, struggling to put food on the table and afford basic necessities, including housing, health care, and childcare.

Black and Hispanic workers disproportionately feel the burden of these low wages as compared to their white counterparts, and that disparity is even worse for women of color. Nearly 40 percent of Hispanic women and 35 percent of Black women make less than $17 per hour.

U.S. Senators Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Angela Alsobrooks (D-Md.), Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-Del.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), John Fetterman (D-Pa.), Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), Tim Kaine (D-Va.), Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.), Andy Kim (D-N.J.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Patty Murray (D-Wash.), Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), Gary Peters (D-Mich.), Jack Reed (D-R.I.), Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), Tina Smith (D-Minn.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Peter Welch (D-Vt.), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) also cosponsored the legislation.

More than 85 organizations endorsed the Raise the Wage Act of 2025, including Service Employees International Union (SEIU), AFL-CIO, American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD), American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), American Federation of Teachers (AFT), Autistic Self Advocacy Network (ASAN), Business for a Fair Minimum Wage, Communications Workers of America (CWA), Economic Policy Institute (EPI), Equal Pay Today, International Union of Painters and Allied Trades (IUPAT), National Domestic Workers Alliance (NDWA), National Education Association (NEA), National Employment Law Project (NELP), The National Partnership for Women & Families, National Women’s Law Center (NWLC), One Fair Wage, Oxfam America, Patriotic Millionaires, UNITE HERE, United Autoworkers (UAW), United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW), United for Respect, and United Steelworkers (USW).

The full bill text is available HERE and a fact sheet is available HERE.

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