Republican Sens. Mitt Romney (R-UT) and Tom Cotton (R-AK) unveiled their proposal on Tuesday to increase the federal minimum wage to $10 by 2025 as Congressional Democrats continue to push for an increase to $15 in four years.

What You Need To Know

  • Republican Sens. Mitt Romney (R-UT) and Tom Cotton (R-AK) unveiled a proposal Tuesday to increase the federal minimum wage to $10 by 2025

  • Congressional Democrats are pushing to increase the minimum wage to $15 by 2025, and are awaiting a ruling from the Senate parliamentarian on whether or not it can be included in President Joe Biden's $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill going through the budget reconciliation process

  • Centrist Senate Democrats Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) and Joe Manchin (D-WV) have opposed putting the measure in the relief bill; Manchin has advocated for an increase to $11 in two years

  • The federal minimum wage currently sits at $7.25, which amounts to about $15,000 per year for 40-hour weeks, and has not increased since 2009

Dubbed The Higher Wages for American Workers Act, Romney and Cotton's proposal aim to "support a strong labor market for American workers" by gradually increasing the minimum wage, which currently sits at $7.25 and has not increased since 2009, while also "mandating E-Verify to ensure rising wages go to legally authorized workers."

"Rather than destroy 1.4 million jobs like a $15 minimum wage, this proposal would raise wages for 3.5 million workers without harming the very workers it’s intended to protect," the proposal reads. "Mandatory E-Verify would preserve American jobs for legal workers and remove incentives for increased illegal immigration. Both policies work in tandem to create tighter labor markets and put upward pressure on wages."

The current minimum wage amounts to about $15,000 per year for 40-hour weeks. The federal guideline for poverty for a two-person household is $17,420, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Congressional Democrats are pushing for a $15 increase by 2025, which is backed by President Joe Biden, though the president has conceded in an interview earlier this month that it might not survive negotiations as part of the the Senate budget reconciliation process. The Senate parliamentarian could decide as early as Tuesday or Wednesday whether or not the measure can be included in Biden's proposed $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan, which is currently going through the reconciliation process to pass without GOP support.

Two centrist Democrats in the Senate, Sens. Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) and Joe Manchin (D-WV) have opposed putting the measure in the relief bill. Manchin has proposed raising the minimum wage to $11 in two years instead.

“I would amend it to $11," Manchin said. "We can do $11 in two years and be in a better position than they're going to be with $15 in five years."

Biden, however, promised to push for a standalone bill to increase the minimum wage.

The Congressional Budget Office released a study earlier in February that suggested that a federal minimum wage increase to $15 would lift 900,000 people out of poverty, though it would cut jobs for 1.4 million workers by 2025.