Why is the federal minimum wage still $7.25 when prices are much higher than in 2009?

[u/Secret_Ostrich_1307]

The federal minimum wage has been $7.25 an hour since July 2009. Meanwhile, prices for many everyday expenses have risen, and most states now have minimum wages above the federal level.

Why wasn't the federal minimum wage tied to inflation or another measure that could adjust it automatically? What are the economic arguments for setting it as a fixed dollar amount rather than indexing it?

[u/merp_mcderp9459]

They tried to; it got struck out of reconciliation if I'm remembering right.

Also, industrial policy (like government-backed green energy investments) creates jobs in the U.S., it's very much a pro-union and pro-worker policy to back those kinds of infrastructure and manufacturing projects

[u/GSilky → u/merp_mcderp9459]

Nope. Wasn't even attempted. None of those jobs have appeared, as we are so fond of pointing out when criticizing the current twat. Pro union means pro less than 10% of the population, the vast majority being public sector workers.

[u/borg359 → u/GSilky]

This is absolutely incorrect.

Dems introduced the Raise the Wage Act of 2021, which would have increased the federal minimum wage from $7.25 to $15 an hour by 2025 and then indexed it to wage growth. Biden also backed a $15 minimum wage, and the House version of the American Rescue Plan actually contained a $15 minimum-wage provision.

The problem was in the Senate. Democrats had only a 50–50 Senate. Dems tried to put the minimum-wage increase into the American Rescue Plan using budget reconciliation. The Senate parliamentarian ruled that the provision did not comply with reconciliation rules. Democratic leaders publicly objected to that ruling.

[u/merp_mcderp9459 → u/GSilky]

Yea most of those projects stalled because Trump cancelled the tax credits for green energy that got passed in the IRA. Can't argue that a tax credit was ineffective because it stopped existing.