WASHINGTON – Today, Rep. Raúl M. Grijalva (AZ-03) applauded the finalization of a U.S. Department of Labor rule to increase the hourly minimum wage to $15 for employees on federal contracts beginning Jan. 30, 2022.

“Our federal workers should be able to make ends meet, send their kids to school, keep food on the table and a roof over the heads of their families. I applaud the Biden administration for taking this critical step to not only raise the minimum wage for federal contract work to $15 an hour but tie it to index to inflation.

Time and time again, the Biden administration and Democrats have made great strides to improve life for everyday working families rather than line the pockets of corporate interests and billionaires with tax cuts. I’ve fought for years to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour only for it to be blocked by the Senate. It’s past time that we gave the workers of America an overdue raise. The Senate must act and raise the minimum wage for working people and families.”

The Department of Labor rule applies in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and specified U.S. territories, and does the following:

• Increases the hourly minimum wage for workers performing work on or in connection with      covered federal contracts to $15 beginning Jan. 30, 2022. 
• Continues to index the federal contract minimum wage in future years to inflation.
• Eliminates the tipped minimum wage for federal contract employees by 2024. 
• Ensures a $15 minimum wage for workers with disabilities performing work on or in connection with covered contracts.
• Restores minimum wage protections to outfitters and guides operating on federal lands. 

As a former Co-Chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC), Rep. Grijalva led the fight to make the federal government a model employer. In 2014, Rep. Grijalva and the CPC called on President Obama to sign a Model Employer Executive Order and rallied with federal contract workers fighting for $15 and a union. The CPC has also continuously fought to combat wage theft, raise the minimum wage nationally, and expand overtime pay.

As a champion of the minimum wage increase, Rep. Grijalva joined House Democrats in January in their reintroduction of the Raise the Wage Act, a bill that would raise the minimum wage to $15 by 2025. Over five years, the bill would gradually increase the federal minimum wage while incrementally phasing our subminimum wages for tipped workers, youth workers, and workers with disabilities.

Rep. Grijalva introduced the Pay Workers a Living Wage Act to increase the minimum wage to $15 in 2015 with Representative Keith Ellison and Senator Bernie Sanders.  Since 2013 and he has led efforts to fight for a living wage including holding forums on the impact of low wages and has joining workers across the country calling for $15 minimum wage.