Families are struggling to afford the basics. Rent, groceries, utilities, health care, child care, and other necessities keep getting more expensive, while the federal minimum wage remains frozen at just $7.25 an hour, where it has been since 2009.

For tipped workers, the subminimum wage has been stuck at $2.13 an hour since 1991.

This creates impossible choices every month for people with the lowest incomes. Pay the rent or the utility bill. Buy groceries or fill a prescription. Cover child care or fall behind somewhere else.

Congress can help ease that pressure by finally raising the federal minimum wage.

The Raise the Wage Act of 2025 would gradually increase the federal minimum wage to $17 an hour by 2030 and phase out lower subminimum wages for tipped employees, workers with disabilities, and young workers.

Roughly 22 million people would receive higher wages under the bill. More than half of workers living in poverty would benefit, putting billions of additional dollars into household budgets that can be used for food, housing, health care, utilities, and other basic needs.

People should not be expected to survive on a federal wage floor Congress set 17 years ago. At a time when millions of households are already struggling to make ends meet, lawmakers should be doing everything they can to strengthen economic security and reduce hardship.

This Labor Day, Congress should do more than praise the contributions people make to our communities. Lawmakers should take action to ensure that a job provides enough income to help families meet their basic needs.

Click “Start Writing” to tell your members of Congress to pass the Raise the Wage Act of 2025 and finally raise the federal minimum wage.