WASHINGTON House Education and Workforce Committee Ranking Member Bobby Scott (D-Va.) called on Republican congressional leaders to support a gradual federal minimum wage increase to $15 per hour by 2024.

That would give nearly 30 percent of Americans a raise and this has the support of 191 members of the House and Senate, Scott said at a news conference Tuesday on Capitol Hill to mark the eighth straight year without a minimum wage hike. Its $7.25 now. Were going all the way to $15.

Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-Del.) said its wrong that eight years have gone by since the last time Congress voted to raise the minimum wage.

That doesnt make sense. Other people are getting raises. Other people are getting raises but people who are working hard, young people, older people, people with disabilities, this bill cuts across all of America, she said. Now is the time to raise the wage.

Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) said he is proud of the raise the wage and fight for $15 activists fighting to push Congress to support a $15 starting wage for themselves and future workers.

We dont want to just be sticking with a minimum, right? We are just talking about starting people at $15 and then up from there, right? Up from there because do you want a minimum car? Do you want a minimum boat to float across the river? Do you want a minimum marriage? That means you all aint getting along too good, he said.

What Im saying is we want to start people there and then move up from there and go on to paid vacation, paid sick leave, paid family leave and have a real solid life for people who work hard every day, he added. You guys are making the movement. I cant wait to be there with you again. We are going to fight until we win.

Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) applauded the warrior activists for advocating in favor of a $15 living wage for every American.

CEOs are benefiting from the American Dream; why not workers who are working each and every day to make this country great? she asked. We need to be a nation of good-paying jobs with benefits and a living wage for each and every one of you.

While the struggle continues, Lee predicted that a $15 minimum wage would ultimately pass out of Congress.

We want a living wage. Workers deserve a living wage in America. Right now, it is unconscionable that in the wealthiest nation men and women are working full-time jobs and dont even earn a livable wage. That is a shame and a disgrace, she said.

Joseph Geevarghese, the director of Good Jobs Nation, said the Fight for 15 movement has always been about a $15 minimum wage and giving every American the right to form a union.

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