Republicans warm up to minimum wage increase

President Ronald Reagan saw the minimum wage as a well-meaning policy that would inadvertently choke off entry-level jobs. That was his view in 1983, and the party has largely held that perspective for much of the 40 years since.

But some Republicans today seem to have warmed up to the idea of not only having a minimum wage but also raising it.

“Obviously, it’s long overdue. I think it’s something that the Problem Solvers Caucus could get behind,” Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, R-N.Y., said, referring to a roughly 50-member group known for its focus on bipartisan collaboration. “But I have to take a closer look to see what the options are.”

Malliotakis, who sits on the Ways and Means Committee and is a member of the Problem Solvers Caucus, isn’t alone. Several moderate Republicans I talked to in the House of Representatives expressed interest in raising the country’s current $7.25 federal wage requirement. According to experts who have studied the effects of a federal standard for wages, it’s a move that could have high political upside while generating little economic turbulence.

Given Republican movements towards a populist platform, David Neumark, professor of economics at the Public Policy Institute of California, believes support for a minimum wage makes sense for the party.

“It’s a very cheap political win,” Neumark said. “Voters like it. They don’t really notice the harm. There’s some gain, and you don’t have to raise taxes, unlike redistribution policies that target [helping] poor families that the government pays for.”

The minimum wage, first implemented in 1938 at the humble rate of just $0.25, poses a legal minimum that employers must pay per hour. It was last raised by the Obama administration, which took it from $6.55 to $7.25 in 2009. The 16 years since are the longest a minimum wage has ever been in effect without changing.

Neumark explained that supporters of the minimum wage usually see the policy as a means to combat poverty—despite well-versed literature suggesting that it often misses that mark.

“Almost all studies say there’s really no effect on the poverty rate one way or the other,” Neumark said. “A lot of minimum wage workers are not in poor families—they’re like teenagers in middle-class families or higher. Teenagers are grossly overrepresented. A lot of poor families have no workers; those that are poor, only about half have a worker.”

According to findings from the Government Accountability Office, only about 20%-25% of families with a federal minimum wage earner were below the poverty line between 1995-2016.

Even so, some Republicans believe the policy could counter inflationary pressures.

“You have to factor in the high cost of living that people have had to endure, and certainly wages have to be evaluated as part of that,” Rep. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., said when asked about his support for a potential minimum wage increase.

But Neumark explained that the minimum wage tends to shift the weight of the market slightly towards consumers while rarely prompting large-scale changes. “In the aggregate, the minimum wage doesn’t really show up,” Newark explained. “I give you a dollar more, but I have a dollar less. So maybe a tiny bit of that dollar goes into spending, which boosts the economy in the short term, but the higher minimum wage reduces employment, right?”

How a federal wage might change hiring decisions, however, depends largely on the existing state-level wage requirements. Imposing a federal requirement at or lower than those thresholds would change nothing.

Malliotakis, the congresswoman from New York, pointed out that many states are already paying above the federal minimum wage.

As of 2025, 30 states have wage requirements that exceed the federal minimum. Some states like Texas, Tennessee, and Oklahoma match the federal $7.25 requirement. Washington, D.C., has the country’s highest minimum wage set at $17.50.

At least one Republican proposal comes to the table with that in mind. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa., introduced a bill earlier this year that would scale the minimum wage relative to the standard of living in certain areas. The Fair Wage Act would impose a $15 minimum wage and then increase it in some areas, depending on the local consumer price index.

“It focuses on livable wage, not minimum wage, right? Fifteen dollars an hour in Birmingham [Alabama] is not the same as $15 an hour in Brooklyn,” Fitzpatrick said. His proposal carries bipartisan support, cosponsored by Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, D-Wash.

Fitzpatrick, a moderate, comes from a highly competitive congressional district. Moderates like him would likely benefit from the relative popularity of a minimum wage change. Data for Progress, a left-leaning think tank, found in polling last year that 85% of Americans would support raising the minimum wage to at least $9.00. Findings from Politico in partnership with Morning Consult similarly found that 69% of voters supported increasing the minimum wage to above $11.00.

But not all Republicans see the minimum wage as a sure thing. Rep. Nick LaLota, R-N.Y., says he’s wary of employment concerns that could come with it.

“Sometimes when states have raised the minimum wage, it actually leads to more unemployment, more automation, less folks getting hired—and that has unintended consequences. So, very appealing to continue to raise the minimum wage, but we should understand the effects,” LaLota said.

Lawler, the other Republican from New York, hopes that the One Big Beautiful Bill Act—and its many tax cuts—that Republicans passed in July will help grow the economy on their own.

“Obviously we want wages to rise,” Lawler said. “That’s the objective of having a tax and regulatory structure that allows businesses to grow and invest and hire more people. Certainly, getting a higher living wage for American workers is a priority.”