Sen. Bernie Sanders looks on as Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer calls to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour.

Democratic party leadership has united behind a call to raise the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour, in another sign of the party's move to the left since the election.

Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign declined to embrace the $15 minimum wage proposal during election season, although it was championed by Bernie Sanders and many grassroots progressive activists. Barack Obama never proposed a $15 federal minimum during his time in the White House, and the Democratic leadership in Congress never proposed such a law during his presidency.

But Democratic leaders in the House and Senate made their support for the wage hike official on Thursday, proposing a largely symbolic bill that would gradually increase the minimum wage until it hits $15 an hour in 2024.

With President Donald Trump in the White House, the bill has practically no chance of becoming law, even if Democrats retake control of Congress next year. But its support from Democratic leaders Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi — each close to the party's donor base and pro-business wing — speaks to the Democrats' shifting political stance.



As recently as 2015, Democrats supported a federal minimum wage of just $12, with party standard bearer and presidential nominee Hillary Clinton backing a raise to $12 an hour on the campaign trail.

"Democrats have been working to put together a bold, sharp-edged agenda, and this bill will be a part of our agenda — that will be spoken about and lobbied for and pushed for from one end of the country to another," Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said at a press conference introducing the bill Thursday.

Schumer later introduced House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi as his "comrade in arms."

The bill would raise the federal minimum to $9.25 an hour this year, with additional yearly increases until it reaches $15 an hour in 2024. A rule allowing tipped workers to be paid less than the federal minimum would also be phased out over this period, and raises to the minimum would be indexed to inflation beginning in 2025.

On the campaign trail, President Donald Trump pledged to raise the federal minimum wage to $10, but has not made the increase a priority since taking office.

