Pelosi, Dems praise California for hiking minimum wage to $10

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and several Democratic lawmakers are praising California’s legislature for passing legislation this week to raise the state’s minimum wage to $10 an hour. Pelosi on Congress to follow suit with its own minimum wage bill. 

Proud of the CA legislature for passing a bill to #raisethewage to $10, the highest in the nation. Time for Congress to follow CA’s example.

— Nancy Pelosi (@NancyPelosi) September 13, 2013

The California measure, passed Thursday, would raise the current $8 minimum wage to $9 an hour in July 2014, and to $10 in January 2016. Gov. Jerry Brown (D) said he would sign the legisation.

{mosads}Pelosi recently invoked an increase in the minimum wage at the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington ceremony.

“[Martin Luther King Jr.] would want us to celebrate him, his birth, and his legacy by acting upon his agenda, by realizing the dream, by making the minimum wage a living wage …,” she said.

Rep. Mark Pocan, (D-Wis.) called on Congress Thursday to enact legislation that would provide low-wage workers with a living wage.

“We can put more money in the pockets of workers instead of corporate CEOs, and thus more money in the pockets of our small businesses that are going to benefit when they’re spending that additional money,” he said on the House floor.

In March, Rep. George Miller, (D-Calif.) and Sen. Tom Harkin, (D-Iowa) introduced the Fair Minimum Wage Act, which would increase the minimum wage nationally from $7.25 to $10.10 over three years.

Miller tweeted Thursday about the legislation passed in his home state.  

I am proud of California’s legislators for passing a bill to boost the state’s minimum wage to $10 per hour. LIKE… http://t.co/LHYQHws7dm

— Rep.George Miller (@askgeorge) September 13, 2013

Their legislation has only been referred to committees. 

Sen. Marco Rubio, (R-Fla.) and Rep. Paul Ryan, (R-Wis.)—two top Republicans—have already said they oppose it. It’s unlikely to pass in the GOP-controlled House.