Findings; sense of Congress

(a) Findings Congress finds the following: (1) In 2022, there were approximately 37,900,000 Americans living in poverty who were denied access to opportunities due to income, housing, education, jobs, and health care. (2) A full-time worker earning the Federal minimum wage earns an income that is just $20 above the Federal poverty line for a single-person household and $5,360 below the poverty line for a two-person household. (3) The average fair market rent for a 1-bedroom apartment is more than 110 percent of the monthly income of a full-time worker earning the minimum wage. In comparison, the generally accepted definition of affordability is for a household to pay not more than 30 percent of its income on housing. (4) Two full-time workers earning the Federal minimum wage earn an income below the national housing wage, which is the amount a person must earn to afford a 1-bedroom apartment for the average rental price without spending more than 30 percent of their income. (5) In 2023, data from the Living Wage Calculator of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology indicated that the median average living wage across single adults and single adults with one child spanning all 50 States was $26.59 per hour or approximately $48,154.49 annually. (b) Sense of Congress It is the sense of Congress that— (1) the Federal minimum wage should, at a minimum, be adjusted any time that inflation rises to 5 percent or above over 2 consecutive years so that a wage earner’s annual income will be not less than 40 percent above the Supplemental Poverty Threshold for a renting family of 4, as determined by the Bureau of Labor Statistics; (2) the minimum wage should be set at a level high enough to allow 2 full-time minimum wage workers to earn an income above the national housing wage; and (3) Congress, any of the several States, the District of Columbia, any territory or possession of the United States, any Indian tribe, or any local or municipal government of a State may establish a higher minimum wage requirement than that established in this Act.