When Nancy Pelosi assumes the speakership again in a couple of weeks and the democrat majority takes over control of the US House of Representatives, one of their top priorities will be pushing to increase the federal minimum wage. Representative Bobby Scott (D-VA), the ranking member on the House Education and the Workforce Committee (who will become Chairman in January), has sponsored and filed a $15 federal minimum wage bill the past two years and has promised to re-introduce his $15 wage legislation. In fact, a public hearing on the bill scheduled for this past Wednesday was postponed until a later date. Looking forward, Pelosi, who just this week secured enough votes to re-assume the speakership, has supported the $15/hour legislation in the past and will do so in the next Congress. The federal minimum wage is set at $7.25/ hour, with two states having minimum wages lower than the federal and five others having no state mandated minimum wage.