Federal minimum wage rises to $20, then grows with worker pay.
H.R. 10294 — Better Pay for American Workers Act · Filed by Norma Torres (D-CA) · Introduced Sep 3, 2026 · Referred to committee
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What it does
The bill raises the federal minimum wage in steps. It reaches $15 per hour in 2027. It reaches $17.50 in 2028 and $20 in 2029. After 2029, the minimum wage grows each year. The Bureau of Labor Statistics will measure typical worker pay growth.
Who it affects
Workers earning minimum wage will get pay raises of $5 to $20 per hour. The raise amount depends on what their state pays now. Low-income workers, women, and workers of color earn minimum wage at high rates.
One thing to notice
The minimum wage will be tied to median wage growth, not inflation. The bill does not say it exempts small businesses, farm workers, or tipped workers.
From the analysis of the bill text, linked under Primary records below.
Where it stands
- Sep 3, 2026 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Sep 3, 2026 — Referred to House Committee on Education and Workforce · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on Education and Workforce”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Words to know
- federal minimum wage — The lowest hourly pay that employers must give workers under U.S. law.
- median wage growth — How much the middle worker's pay goes up each year, measured by government.
- Bureau of Labor Statistics — A U.S. government agency that tracks worker pay and job data.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (1,761 characters) on Sep 5, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 14,206 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
As of — page rendered 2026-09-17.
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