Scott, Kaine, renew minimum wage push at $12 an hour

U.S. Rep. Bobby Scott will be in the thick of a Democratic push on the federal minimum wage, sponsoring legislation to increase the floor $12 over the next five years.

Democrats plan to roll out the particulars this afternoon in a press conference with the U.S. secretary of labor and Democratic minority leaders from both chambers.

Scott, D-Newport News, will sponsor the House version. The bill would bump the minimum wage up 75 cents next year, then another dollar a year to hit $12 by 2020. It's a companion measure to a Senate bill from U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, D-WA.

U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine, D-VA, will join Murray on that bill, his office said today.

The bill, Scott's office said, would also index the federal minimum wage to the median wage and gradually elimiate the lower minimum wage for tipped workers.

The changes would affect nearly 38 million people, Scott's office said. The $12 rate would be enough to keep a family of three out of poverty, according to Kaine's office, which also pointed toward this floor speech the senator gave on minimum wage issues last year.

Scott's office said the House version of this bill has some 150 co-sponsors so far, all of them Democrats.

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