DEMS/ELECTION/JOBS/LEGISLATION/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “House Democrats, pressing ahead on one of their more ambitious agenda items, introduced a bill Wednesday [1-16-19] to more than double the federal minimum wage. The legislation, which would phase in a $15 hourly minimum over a period of six years, enunciates a policy difference with Republicans ahead of the 2020 presidential election. But a bipartisan compromise may be possible, given President Donald Trump’s past support for a minimum-wage hike. After six years, the $15 minimum would rise automatically to keep pace with inflation, likely ending future political battles over the matter. The bill would eliminate lower minimum wages permitted now for tipped workers, workers with disabilities and workers younger than 20. The legislation has the support of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), and House Education and Labor Chairman Bobby Scott (D-Va.). The last time Congress raised the federal hourly minimum, now $7.25, was in 2007, making Barack Obama the first president since Ronald Reagan not to preside over a minimum-wage increase. Opposition by congressional Republicans killed Obama’s proposed hikes, but in the 2016 presidential election candidate Trump ended up supporting a hike in the hourly minimum to $10, after first proposing the minimum wage’s elimination.”
–Ian Kullgren, “House Democrats call Trump’s bluff on minimum-wage hike,” Politico, January 16, 2019 10:17 am