Democrats Offer Bill to Raise Minimum Wage;A Compromise With Labor, Measure Would Boost Rate to $4.55 in 3 Years
Congressional Democrats, with the backing of organized labor, yesterday introduced compromise legislation to raise the federal minimum wage to $4.55 over the next three years, but formally abandoned any effort to tie future increases to rising inflation.</br></br>Democratic congressional leaders worked out the compromise with labor after it became clear the initial proposal approved by the House Education and Labor Committee was going nowhere.</br></br>The compromise, a smaller increase than in earlier versions of the bill, is expected to have better chances of enactment.</br></br>The stripped-down measure, which is opposed by the principal business lobbying groups, could be voted on by both the House and the Senate before the start of the Democratic National Convention late next month.</br></br>The Senate Labor and Human Resources Committee is expected to draft the bill next week. In the House, the bill will be offered during the following week as a substitute for a bill approved earlier by a House committee.