As a result, so is the cost of living, meaning a rise in the minimum wage would have clear ripple effects.

While many workers see it as a desperately needed correction to a long-outdated federal minimum, others view it as a burdensome imposition that threatens to kill businesses. .

Congress punted on the issue last month, opting to reject an effort to attach a $15 minimum wage to Biden's American Rescue Plan, which would have more than doubled the federal hourly wage from the current $7.25.

"Let’s be clear. The $7.25 an hour federal minimum wage is a starvation wage," Vermont independent Sen Bernie Sanders said when he introduced legislation earlier this year to raise the wage to $15, phased in over four years. "No person in America can make it on $8, $10, or $12 an hour.

Ten million workers whose wages would otherwise be slightly above that wage rate would also be affected.

States are permitted to pass their own minimum wage rates, provided it's not lower than the federal standard.

Twenty-nine states, including West Virginia, have adopted a minimum wage above the federal rate though none are as high as $15.

“I don’t think there’s a member in Congress that doesn’t want to raise the minimum wage," said Sen.

More: Generation Z workers push for $15 minimum wage as Congress, Biden debate pay for all Americans.

While Rodriguez makes slightly above Arizona’s minimum wage of $12.15 an hour, a living wage in the Phoenix area for a single adult with three children who works full time would be $46.01 an hour, according to MIT’s Living Wage calculator, which estimates the cost of living in a particular community or region based on typical expenses.

"Senators in both parties have shown support for raising the federal minimum wage and the Senate should hold an open debate and amendment process on raising the minimum wage."?

The tip credit, which is law in most states, allows employers to provide a much lower minimum wage to workers whose primary income is through tips, such as restaurant servers.

Under the system, many workers often make more than the prevailing minimum wage and many employers benefit from a lower payroll.

Because she is a tipped worker, the Manchester resident is guaranteed a little more than $3 an hour, which amounts to about $30,000 before taxes. The answer, she said, is raising the minimum wage to $15 for everyone?

In Maine, where the minimum wage stands among the nation's highest at $12.15, the state Chamber of Commerce opposes a $15 federal standard.

Portland’s minimum wage is scheduled to rise to $15 an hour by early 2025.

More: The people of America say raise the minimum wage.

What do you think about the minimum wage debate.

“The economy isn’t as strong” and a big minimum wage jump would force restaurants or shop owners to reduce hours, cut employees or raise prices so sharply that they lose customers.

More: Minimum wage set to rise in 20 states, 32 localities as growing number adopt $15 an hour.

Some congressional Republicans have gotten behind a more modest increase in the minimum wage.

Mitt Romney of Utah and Tom Cotton of Arkansas have teamed up on a bill to increase the wage to $10 – provided businesses are required to use the e-verify system that checks the legal status of their employees.

Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., has floated a plan to raise the wage annually based on inflation increases, but many Democrats arguing for bold action view that as a meager gesture.

John Kennedy compared a minimum wage increase to a “meat axe.”.

“And rather than put the burden on small businesses through a minimum wage increase to help low-income workers, I would like to see a debate about using the scalpel of an earned income tax credit and then looking for money in the budget to pay for it.”.

The nation’s largest employer announced the starting wages would move up to between $13 and $19 per hour for in-store employees and those working in its e-commerce operations. That move is expected to bring up average pay for those workers to about $15, according to the company.

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, Jason Homan and his partner, Kristen, both worked part-time at a grocery store in Bath, Maine, with Kristen earning the minimum wage of $12.15 and Homan at $12.80.

Nothing prevents Congress from exempting certain groups of workers from the minimum wage requirement. They already do when it comes to farm workers, seasonal employees, those who earn tips, and teenagers

Jon Tester voted against the $15 minimum wage after hearing from small businesses about how much it would hurt them

Manchin, the moderate Democratic senator, voted against raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour, even though his state is one of the poorest in the nation and data from the Economic Policy Institute shows such an increase would boost the pay of some 250,000 residents by about $4,000 a year

That's given Manchin some cover during the minimum wage debate to talk about the need to protect jobs, Franko said

The Petersburg resident supports a modest increase in the minimum wage but worries a $15 mandated wage in West Virginia would not give workers a huge advantage