The fate of an effort to increase the federal minimum wage to $15 per hour is very much up in the air on Capitol Hill.

Many Democrats and the Biden White House are calling for the increase. A provision boosting the minimum wage to that level gradually over the next few years is currently included in a COVID-19 relief bill pending in the U.S. House.

However, the idea is facing pushback from several Republicans and small business owners, including some from North Carolina.

For more than a decade, the federal minimum has remained steady at $7.25 per hour.

Democrats like Rep. Alma Adams, who represents the Charlotte area, argue that just does not cut it.

“I still don't understand why we can think that someone can live off of … $15,000 a year,” she said.

North Carolina’s minimum wage mirrors the federal rate. Data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics indicates that in 2019, roughly 62,000 North Carolina workers were paid at or below the federal minimum wage.

And that was before the pandemic.

Increasing the minimum wage “is something that I think we must do,” Adams said. “Other states that have done it have not seen all of this demise that people talk about.”

But the idea is facing resistance. Republicans and small business organizations point to a nonpartisan analysis by the Congressional Budget Office showing that increasing the minimum wage to $15 per hour could put 1.4 million Americans out of work.

(The report also shows that increasing the minimum wage to that level would also end up boosting pay for millions of Americans.)

Greensboro small businessman Gordon Hunt is among those concerned about a potential federal change.

His lighting company, Illuminating Technologies, pays its employees above the minimum wage. However, he says he worries that any federal increase could have ripple effects, impacting his clients and how much capital they have for lighting upgrades and investments down the road.

“What it does is it puts pressure on all wages to increase when you artificially just raise the floor,” Hunt said. “It'll slow down jobs. It'll raise the cost of the components that we purchase and resell.”

On Capitol Hill, there is potentially a technical hurdle for the $15 per hour wage push, with questions as to whether it can be included in the COVID relief bill under certain Senate rules.

If it is allowed, at least two Senate Democrats have voiced concerns about increasing the wage that high. But with a 50-50 split in the Senate, Democrats have no margin for error or defections if they go it alone to pass this coronavirus relief measure.