Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), and other senior Democrats will join Sen. Bernie Sanders in releasing the legislation. | AP Photo Democratic leaders to join Sanders on $15 minimum wage pitch

Congressional Democratic leaders will unveil a proposal to hike the minimum wage to $15 an hour on Thursday alongside Sen. Bernie Sanders, who made the issue a centerpiece of his 2016 presidential campaign.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), and other senior Democrats will join Sanders and Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.), vice chair of the Democratic National Committee, in releasing the legislation.


Nearly two dozen other Democratic senators publicly pledged to endorse the proposal last month. Sanders has long pushed for the $15 minimum wage, but the plan drew significantly more Democratic support — and a formal addition to the party platform — after the Vermont independent challenged Hillary Clinton in the Democratic presidential primary.

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The $15 minimum wage proposal also offers Democrats a new potential plank in an economic agenda they are rolling out ahead of the 2018 midterms with a nod to the working class-friendly populism that Sanders seized on during his White House bid. Senate Democrats have already released an infrastructure framework, and Schumer has said a separate trade package will soon be in the offing.

Among the other Democratic leaders joining Schumer, Pelosi, Sanders and Ellison on Thursday will be third-ranked Senate Democratic leader Patty Murray of Washington and House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.).