Manchin Wrong About How Many States Have $7.25 Minimum Wage

Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia wrongly said “very few … if any” states have a minimum wage at the federally mandated $7.25 per hour. In fact, 21 states do.

Raising the federal minimum wage has become an issue in recent weeks as Congress debated the American Rescue Plan.

The Democratic-controlled House included a phased-in $15-an-hour minimum wage in its version of the COVID-19 relief bill. But the nonpartisan Senate parliamentarian ruled that the provision could not be included in the Senate version if Democrats wanted to pass the bill using reconciliation — which requires a simple majority rather than 60 votes.

Sen. Bernie Sanders offered an amendment to the Senate bill to reinsert the $15 federal minimum wage, phased in over four years. The amendment failed in a 58-42 vote. Manchin was one of seven Democrats, plus an independent, who voted against the amendment.

Manchin has said he supports a more modest $11-an-hour federal minimum wage, which would increase each year with inflation.

“Bernie has chosen $15 and, you know what, an awful lot of areas and states have moved to $15,” Manchin said on ABC’s “This Week” on March 7. “A lot of them moved a lot further than $7.25. There’s very few, I would think if any, are at $7.25.”

No states currently have a $15 minimum wage, though New York City and Washington, D.C., do, according to the Department of Labor. Nine states have passed legislation to move toward a $15 minimum wage over the next several years. The most recent was Florida, where voters in November approved Amendment 2, which will phase in a $15-per-hour minimum wage by 2026.

But there are still 21 states where the minimum wage is effectively $7.25 an hour, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.