WASHINGTON — A group of House progressives has introduced legislation that would raise the federal minimum wage to $25 an hour — more than triple the current rate of $7.25, which hasn't budged since 2009.

The Living Wage for All Act, introduced on April 28 by Reps. Jesús "Chuy" García (D-IL), Delia Ramirez (D-IL), Lateefah Simon (D-CA), and Analilia Mejia (D-NJ), would phase in the increase on two tracks. Large corporations — those with 500 or more employees or $1 billion in annual revenue — would be required to hit the $25 mark by 2031. Smaller employers would have until 2038.

After full implementation, the minimum wage would automatically adjust to remain at two-thirds of the national median wage, which currently sits around $31 an hour.

The bill would also eliminate subminimum wages entirely, including the federal tipped wage of $2.13 an hour — a rate that has remained unchanged since 1991.

The $25 figure goes well beyond the more modest Raise the Wage Act of 2025 (H.R. 2743), introduced by Virginia's Bobby Scott in April 2025, which would phase the federal floor up to $17 an hour by 2030.

The legislation arrives with the support of more than 100 labor, civil rights, and advocacy groups, including the NAACP, the American Federation of Teachers, the National Education Association, and One Fair Wage — the same coalition that powered the Fight for $15 movement.

"This is a worker-led movement that has grown from the groundbreaking Fight for $15," said Saru Jayaraman, president of One Fair Wage. The organization helped advance ballot measures in several states, including Massachusetts, to raise wages and end subminimum pay in 2024.

The bill is co-sponsored by 18 additional House members, including Congressional Progressive Caucus Chair Greg Casar and Congressional Hispanic Caucus Chair Adriano Espaillat.

But even at $15, Massachusetts workers fall well short of what MIT's Living Wage Calculator says is needed to cover basic expenses in the state — $30.58 an hour for a single adult with no children.

The federal bill faces long odds in a Republican-controlled Congress. But its introduction signals that the progressive wing of the Democratic Party has moved well past the $15 fight and is now anchoring the debate at $25 — a number that, if enacted, would reshape the labor market from fast food to retail to the service industry.

The current federal minimum wage of $7.25 has been in place since July 2009 — the longest stretch without an increase since the minimum wage was first established in 1938.