Norcross wants to raise the federal minimum wage to $17

For years, Democrats in Congress and across the country have pushed for a $15-an-hour minimum wage, saying that such a change is necessary for the country’s low-wage workers. New Jersey is among the many states where they succeeded; thanks to a 2019 bill, the state’s minimum wage is currently just over $14, and will increase to $15 next year.

But Rep. Donald Norcross (D-Camden) wants the country as a whole to go further. Alongside several of his Democratic House colleagues, Norcross introduced a bill yesterday that would gradually raise the federal minimum wage from $7.25 all the way to $17 by 2028, a change that the congressman said is long overdue, especially given recent inflation.

“We’ve gone 14 years without raising the minimum wage – think about that,” Norcross told the New Jersey Globe today. “New Jersey … has a pathway to $15, which is great. It creates a predictable path for both those who are earning the wage and those who are paying the wage. But nationally, we have people who are literally making seven-and-a-half bucks an hour, and there is just no way possible that you can survive on it.”

As Norcross noted, the federal minimum wage has not been increased in 14 years. Many states like New Jersey have implemented significant minimum wage increases of their own, but 20 states – most of them solidly Republican states, many of them in the South – are still stuck at the federal rate of $7.25.

“[The people] who it impacts most are the people who don’t have the ability to fight back,” Norcross said. “And that’s why we need to do it. A fair and even playing field.”

In July 2019, the House passed a bill increasing the minimum wage to $15, with every single House member from New Jersey voting in support – including Republican Rep. Chris Smith (R-Manchester) and then-Democratic Rep. Jeff Van Drew (R-Dennis). But the bill died in the Senate, and did not move forward again when Democrats had full control of Congress the following session.

This session, a majority of the New Jersey delegation is willing to go further, with Senator Cory Booker and Reps. Andy Kim (D-Moorestown), Frank Pallone (D-Long Branch), Rob Menendez (D-Jersey City), Bill Pascrell (D-Paterson), Donald Payne Jr. (D-Newark), and Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-Ewing) all joining Norcross as cosponsors of the $17-an-hour bill.

Yet with Republicans in control of the House and Democrats holding onto a tiny majority in the Senate, it seems unlikely that the bill will even come up for a vote this session. Norcross acknowledged that, saying it was an indication of how far outside the mainstream most Republican lawmakers are.

“This tells you how out of touch they are with the reality of those who are struggling to live,” Norcross said. “You can take care of your billionaire buddies and give them the tax breaks, but you can’t increase the minimum wage? Morally, how do you look yourself in the mirror and say it’s okay?”