# 119-hr-10294: Better Pay for American Workers Act

119-hr-10294, Better Pay for American Workers Act, is a 119th Congress bill sponsored by Rep. Torres, Norma J. [D-CA-35] (D-CA); status introduced; PRIA reads it as touching household money (as of 2026-09-12).

- Canonical: https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-10294
- As of: 2026-09-12
- Plain-text twin of the page above; the HTML and this file carry the same facts.

## Facts
- Bill: 119-hr-10294
- Congress: 119
- Title: Better Pay for American Workers Act
- Status: introduced
- Introduced: 2026-09-03
- Sponsor: Rep. Torres, Norma J. [D-CA-35] (D-CA)
- Cosponsors: 0
- Policy area: Labor and Employment
- Touches household money: yes
- Last recorded action: 2026-09-12

## Summary

**This bill would raise the federal minimum wage to $20 an hour by 2029 and then tie future increases to median-wage growth.** It replaces the current minimum-wage paragraph in the Fair Labor Standards Act with a staged schedule for 2027–2029 and a data-driven annual adjustment thereafter. - Workers: Minimum-wage workers would get staged increases that reach $20 an hour by 2029, with higher baseline pay beginning in 2027. - Employers: Covered employers must pay the new statutory rates and update payrolls as the wage steps up through 2029 and then changes each year. - Administration and formula: Beginning January 1, 2030 the Secretary would set the annual minimum using Bureau of Labor Statistics median hourly-wage data, increasing the wage by the annual percent change in the median and rounding to the nearest $0.05.

## Provisions PRIA read

- Higher federal minimum wage for workers: benefit, high. This bill would raise the federal hourly minimum wage in steps. The wage would be $15.00 on January 1, 2027; $17.50 on January 1, 2028; and $20.00 on January 1, 2029. Starting January 1, 2030, and each year after, the Secretary of Labor would set the wage based on the annual percent change in the m…

## Related bills

- 119-hr-10061: Wildfire Response and Readiness Act
- 119-hr-7481: Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act, 2026
- 119-hr-7973: Momnibus Act
- 119-hr-7853: PrEP Access and Coverage Act of 2026
- 119-hr-4245: GLOBE Act of 2025
- 119-hr-5449: Redistricting Reform Act of 2025

## Sources
- [119-hr-10294 on Congress.gov](https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/10294)

## Related
- [119-hr-10061: Wildfire Response and Readiness Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-10061)
- [119-hr-7481: Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act, 2026](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-7481)
- [119-hr-7973: Momnibus Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-7973)
- [119-hr-7853: PrEP Access and Coverage Act of 2026](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-7853)
- [119-hr-4245: GLOBE Act of 2025](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-4245)
- [119-hr-5449: Redistricting Reform Act of 2025](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-5449)
- [All bills in Congress](https://policyrisk.com/legislation)

Source: PRIA, https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-10294 (as of 2026-09-12).