Battle for minimum wage increase unfolding in Pennsylvania Statehouse

With a 103-100 vote Tuesday, Democrats in the Pennsylvania House successfully passed a bill that would gradually raise the state’s hourly minimum wage from $7.25 to $15 over the course of the next three years. The state’s floor for wages has been at such rates since 2009 — though Democrats nearly passed an increase in 2019. 

The bill will now need to move through the State Senate, which is narrowly controlled by Republicans 28-22. It remains to be seen if any kind of agreement can be reached or if the legislature will repeat 2019, when such an effort failed. Given current, hyper-partisan trends, one should not hold their breath. 

All but one Democratic state representative voted for the measure, and two GOP members voted for it. 

On the campaign trail, Gov. Josh Shapiro (D) promised to increase base pay in the state to the $15 hourly wage that has become a national standard. June is the budget month in Pennsylvania, so Democrats are attempting to pass various spending bills to increase their progressive bona fides. 

Thirty states have increased the minimum wage since 2014. California, Massachusetts and Washington have all reached a $15 hourly standard, with Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Nebraska, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Virginia and Washington D.C. slowly increasing the minimum wages (depending on the state) to be between $15 to $18 hourly over next few years. 

Economic research has indicated that, despite fear mongering during the Fight for $15 campaign of the post-Occupy era, minimum wage increases have not impacted consumer prices. However, it is worth noting that a family of four with two working adults would need to make $25.02 per hour to meet their basic economic needs. 

Republican opposition in the House included a cavalcade of bad-faith arguments: “This bill is only going to result in the cost of playing miniature golf to rise,” exclaimed State Rep. Seth Grove (R-York). 

And State Rep. Russ Diamond (R-Lebanon) claimed that such increases would simply be offset by rising prices — and took a swipe at President Joe Biden’s administration for recent price spikes. “Inflation… has doubled or tripled at my favorite restaurants … These folks are earning fewer tips from me, their usual customer,” he warned. 

State Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta (D-Philadelphia) chastised the numerous bad-faith arguments that emerged Tuesday: “Marie Antoinette, if she were still alive, would have loved so much of this debate.”