Walmart CEO Doug McMillon called on Congress to raise the minimum wage at the company's annual meeting Wednesday, just minutes before Sen. Bernie Sanders said the largest U.S. retailer needs to raise its "starvation wages."

"It's time for Congress to put a thoughtful plan in place to increase the minimum wage," McMillon said after outlining changes in benefits that Walmart has made in recent years including higher wages, parental leave and health insurance that starts at $28 per pay period. The company covers 1.1 million employees and their families, he said.

"It's clear by our actions and those of other companies that the federal minimum wage is lagging behind. $7.25 is too low," McMillon said.

In the past, McMillon has agreed the minimum wage was too low. But Wednesday was the first time he asked Congress to act. In 2005, Walmart CEO Lee Scott called on Congress to take a responsible look at the country's minimum wage law.

Sanders didn't address McMillon's recommendation for a higher federal minimum wage, but he did say that there was a "grotesque level of greed in corporate America." He noted that McMillon's pay last year was 1,000 times that of the average Walmart employee.

Sanders isn't a Walmart shareholder, but he was invited by someone who ceded her time to the presidential candidate. Sanders was restricted to the same three-minute rule that Walmart imposes on all speakers at shareholder meetings.

"The American people are sick of subsidizing the greed of corporations in America," Sanders said. He added that happens through employees needing food stamps, Medicaid and public housing.

After years of employee protests and organized efforts to force the company to raise wages, Walmart did so starting in 2015. It was one of the first changes made by McMillon after becoming CEO. Walmart's first raise cost $1 billion a year when it increased wages to $9 an hour for 500,000 employees.

Walmart has raised its minimum wage twice in the past few years from $7.25 to $9 and then to $11 an hour. In Texas, where it employs almost 161,000 people, Walmart said its average wage for regular, full-time hourly store employees is $14.15 an hour.

Twitter: @MariaHalkias