Republicans opposing the measure say hiking the minimum wage will hurt small businesses and cause many employers to cut jobs to offset the costs of higher wages. Younger workers would be among those particularly impacted, they say.

Representative Virginia Foxx of North Carolina, the top Republican on the House Education and Labor Committee, said the bill is “unnecessary” and put politics ahead of the needs of workers.

“Increasing the federal minimum wage by 107 percent is a harmful and unprecedented mandate that would result in millions of job losses for vulnerable Americans, small business closures, and significant damage to the U.S. economy,” Foxx said.

Major employers have been increasing their own wages in response to heightened political pressure, including Amazon.com Inc., Target and Walmart Inc. Amazon late last year boosted its minimum pay to $15 an hour as it geared up for holiday-season hiring and in the face of public chastising by Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, a leading 2020 Democratic presidential contender.

CANDIDATE PROPOSALS

Wal-Mart has raised its base wage to $11 an hour and in June -- in tandem with a visit from Sanders at its annual shareholders meeting -- Chief Executive Officer Doug McMillon announced the company will urge Congress to raise the wage. It was a rare step for the nation’s biggest employer to demand action on an issue it’s long been attacked over, although McMillon didn’t endorse the $15-an-hour boost Sanders and other Democrats seek.

Other leading Democratic presidential contenders also back a $15-an-hour minimum wage, including former Vice President Joe Biden, Senator Kamala Harris of California, Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, and South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg. President Donald Trump opposes it.

The House legislation would phase in the increase in the minimum wage over six years. The U.S. Department of Labor would then adjust it annually based on increases in the median hourly wage for all employees. The legislation also includes a boost in wages for workers who make tips so that they also would eventually see a $15 hourly minimum, although the phase in extends all the way to 2027.