Want to see fewer people relying on SNAP?

Raise the minimum wage (Duh!)

Would you be willing to spend an extra 25¢ for a Big Mac if it meant that most of your fellow Americans could earn a livable wage?

I pose this question because 42 million Americans who rely on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) to feed themselves are currently making hard choices — eat or pay rent — thanks to the federal government shutdown and the refusal of the Trump administration to release emergency funding that was already allocated for the program. As of this posting, chaos and uncertainty remains for SNAP benefits and whether the administration will actually comply with court orders to release funds for the program.

One in eight people in our nation need SNAP, a damning indictment against an economic system in which many who work 40 hours a week are not paid enough to make ends meet. If we’re looking for ways to close the gap between the cost of living and the wages earned by millions of Americans, a good place to start is to raise the federal minimum wage, which has been stuck at $7.25 an hour since 2009. If the minimum wage had merely kept up with inflation, it would currently stand at $11 an hour.

Seems like raising the minimum wage would be a no-brainer, so why haven’t we done it? Every time there is serious talk of raising the minimum wage, a lot of noise is made about how it would impact inflation. That leads me back to my initial question about what you’d be willing to spend on a Big Mac.

Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash

A study done in 2013 by researchers at Purdue University’s School of Hospitality and Tourism Management found that if the minimum wage were raised to $15 an hour, average prices at fast-food restaurants would increase by 4.3 percent. With the average price today for a Big Mac at $5.79, that would mean shelling out an additional quarter to get two all-beef patties with special sauce, lettuce and tomato on a sesame seed bun.

Too steep? I didn’t think so.

Keep in mind, the fast food industry employs more low-wage workers than most sectors, and so the effect of raising the minimum wage will be felt most where consumers are purchasing cheeseburgers and chicken sandwiches. The impact for consumers purchasing other types of goods and services where wages are significantly higher than the minimum — appliances, cars, home repairs — will be much less.

Will raising the minimum wage reduce the number of people getting SNAP benefits?

In 2014, the Institute for Research on Labor and Employment released a report, The Effects of Minimum Wages on SNAP Enrollments and Expenditures, showing that for every 10 percent increase in the federal minimum wage, the number of SNAP recipients fall by 3 percent (Pg. 18). Doubling the minimum wage to $15 would reduce SNAP recipients by 30 percent, dropping that number from 42 million to 30 million.

The federal minimum of $7.25 is the floor for wages in 20 states, but more than half the states have minimum wages above that floor. Of note, most of those 20 states that have rock-bottom minimums are red states with Republican governors, legislatures or both. As with most laws where the federal government needed to intercede — the Civil Rights Act, for example — an increase in the federal minimum wage will be required to lift many people out of poverty in these places.

If you’re wondering whether Congress is doing anything to fix this problem, the answer is “yes,” but only half of Congress is on board to help those who toil for dirt-cheap wages. Back in April, legislation was introduced in the House and Senate, the Raise the Wage Act of 2025 (H.R. 2743), that would raise the federal minimum wage gradually to $17 per hour by 2030.

The Raise the Wage Act was reintroduced in the 19th Congress as the same legislation that was introduced two years earlier. In 2023, the National Employment Law Project posted a good rundown on what the bill would do. I’ve updated the years on when changes are scheduled to take effect to reflect the reintroduced bill:

• Raise the federal minimum wage to $9.50 this year and increase it in steps until it reaches $17 an hour in 2030.

• After 2030, adjust the minimum wage each year to keep pace with growth in the median wage, a measure of wages for typical workers.

• Phase out the egregious subminimum wage for tipped workers, which has been frozen at a meager $2.13 since 1991.[ii]

• Sunset unacceptable subminimum wages for workers with disabilities employed in sheltered workshops and for workers under age 20.

• Increase the federal minimum wage beyond the previous benchmark of $15 an hour to $17 by 2030, in order to adjust for inflation and the fact that many states and localities have already moved to or beyond a $15 minimum wage.

The Economic Policy Institute shares some numbers on the potential impact of the Raise the Wage Act:

22,247,000: Number of workers affected

15%: Share of U.S. workforce affected

$70 billion: Total additional wages provided

$3,200: Average increase per worker

The House bill, introduced by Rep. Robert Scott (D-VA), has 163 cosponsors, all of them Democrats. The Senate version, introduced by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), has 33 cosponsors, none of them Republicans. To many, this comes as no surprise since the GOP is known for being pro-business, not pro-worker. However, the last time Congress voted on legislation to raise the minimum wage in 2007, it passed with overwhelming bipartisan support, 94-3. Hmmmm… What happened between 2007 and now?

Not every Republican in Congress opposes raising the minimum wage. Though not a cosponsor of the Raise the Wage Act, Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) introduced a bill in June, the Higher Wages for American Workers Act of 2025, which would increase the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour. The minimum wage would then be adjusted automatically for inflation.

“If we’re going to be a working people’s party, we have to do something for working people. And working people haven’t gotten a raise in years. So they need a raise,” said Hawley when he introduced the bill with Democrat Peter Welch of Vermont.

Hawley’s bill, however, has failed to gain traction. In the four months since the bill dropped, no other Republicans have signed on as cosponsors.

Without support from Republicans, who control both houses of Congress, the prospects for increasing the minimum wage in this Congress are zilch. Passage of a new minimum wage will have to wait for Democrats to regain control of the House and Senate. Given the results of this week’s off-year elections in which Democrats out-performed expectations, their prospects for retaking Congress in next year’s midterm are looking good. The question, then, is whether Trump would sign a bill raising the minimum wage. In an interview following last year’s election, Trump indicated he would be “open” to such an adjustment, though he mentioned no figure.

As with anything requiring congressional action, hearing from constituents is the key to getting results, and yelling at the TV doesn’t count. Now is the time to lay the groundwork by contacting your representative and senators — especially if they are Republicans — and let them know that failure to raise the minimum wage for the last 16 years is a travesty that keeps millions of Americans mired in poverty. If you work 40 hours a week, you should be able to put a roof over your head and food on the table.