The president has seemingly undermined the push to raise the minimum wage by acknowledging its dim prospects in Congress, where it faces political opposition and procedural hurdles. "They need to feel the pressure.”The minimum wage debate highlights one of the central tensions emerging in the early days of Biden's presidency. "I don’t think it's going to survive,” Biden recently told CBS News, referring to the minimum wage hike. For now, the measure's most progressive Senate backers aren't openly pressuring Biden to step up his campaign for a higher minimum wage. The federal minimum wage hasn’t been raised since 2009, the longest stretch without an increase since its creation in 1938.

Source: ABC News February 15, 2021 14:04 UTC