{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.cotton.senate.gov/news/press-releases/cotton-romney-colleagues-introduce-bill-to-raise-minimum-wage-and-stop-employment-of-illegal-immigrants", "Cotton, Romney, Colleagues Introduce Bill to Raise Minimum Wage and Stop Employment of Illegal Immigrants", "2023-09-13", "2023", "2023-09", "Republican", "Senate", "AR", "Tom Cotton", "C001095", "www.cotton.senate.gov", "cotton", "https://www.cotton.senate.gov/news/press-releases", "scraper", "FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE\n\nContact: Caroline Tabler or James Arnold (202) 224-2353\n\nSeptember 13, 2023\n\nCotton, Romney, Colleagues Introduce Bill to Raise Minimum Wage and Stop Employment of Illegal Immigrants\n\nWashington, D.C. \u2014 Senators Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas) and Mitt Romney (R-Utah) today introduced the Higher Wages for American Workers Act, a bill that would gradually raise the federal minimum wage to $11 by 2028 and mandate E-Verify to ensure the wage increase only goes to legal workers.\n\nThe bill will also index future minimum wage increases to inflation and includes protections for small businesses. Senators Shelley Moore Capito (R-West Virginia), Bill Cassidy (R-Louisiana), Susan Collins (R-Maine), and J.D. Vance (R-Ohio) are co-sponsors of the legislation.\n\nBill text may be found here.\n\n\u201cAmerican workers today compete against millions of illegal immigrants for too few jobs with wages that are too low\u2014that\u2019s unfair. Ending the black market for illegal labor will open up jobs for Americans. Raising the minimum wage will allow Americans filling those jobs to better support their families. Our bill does both,\u201d said Senator Cotton.\n\n\u201cDespite rising costs of living, the federal minimum wage has not been increased in more than a decade, which has left millions of Americans struggling to make ends meet. Our proposal would raise wages for millions of workers without risking jobs, and tether the wage to inflation to ensure it keeps up with rising costs. Additionally, requiring employers to use E-Verify would ensure that the wage increase goes to legal workers, which would protect American jobs and eliminate a key driver of illegal immigration,\u201d said Senator Romney.\n\nBackground:\n\nGradually raises the federal minimum wage to $11 over four years, and then indexes it to inflation every two years moving forward.\n\nCreates a slower phase-in for small businesses with fewer than 20 employees.\n\nMandates E-Verify for all employers, phasing in implementation over 18 months to allow small businesses additional time to comply.\n\nRaises civil and criminal penalties on employers that hire unauthorized aliens and/or violate I-9 paperwork requirements.\n\nPrevents fraud by requiring workers 18 and older to provide a photo ID to their employer for verification, which will be cross-referenced if a photo is available through the E-Verify system.\n\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-08T00:37:48Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.cotton.senate.gov/news/press-releases/cotton-romney-colleagues-introduce-bill-to-raise-minimum-wage-and-stop-employment-of-illegal-immigrants"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.955931143835187, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}