House Democrats are close to securing the votes to pass a bill raising the federal minimum wage to $15 per hour, over the objections of some centrist Democrats, The Hill reports.
Of the 235 Democrats in the House, just 29 have yet to cosponsor legislation raising the minimum wage. Most of those are moderates, many from rural areas, who have expressed concern about how the increased wages could affect “certain parts of the country” more than others.
“I am concerned about the fact that $15 is an arbitrary number that means a lot more in certain parts of the country than it does another,” said Rep. Dean Phillips, D-Minn., whose seat was held by the GOP for several years before his election.
“I believe there are better mechanisms by which we can ensure that by providing incentives to enterprises who take better care of people,” he added, noting that he hasn’t decided whether to support the bill or not.
“The minimum wage in San Francisco should probably be $30 an hour, OK? But the minimum wage in West Virginia or Arkansas is a different story,” said New Jersey Democratic Rep. Jeff Van Drew, whose own state voted to raise the minimum wage to $15 within the next five years.
He added that raising the minimum wage on a national scale would at least eliminate that neighboring states could have over ones with a high minimum wage like New Jersey.
“There are folks in my state that feel, 'Well, gee, if we've got to put up with it, we have it already, let's compete on an equal footing and let every state have it,’” Van Drew said.
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