Sen. Bob Casey of Pennsylvania says he's adding his name to the 30 fellow Democrats who are co-sponsoring legislation to raise the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour.
The bill that Casey said Tuesday he's joining would raise the federal minimum wage, set at $7.25 an hour since 2007, in six annual steps to $15.
It's written by Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and backed by five other Democratic senators who, like Sanders, are seeking the party's nomination to run for president.
Previously, Casey had authored legislation to increase the federal minimum wage to $12 an hour by 2020.
Casey acknowledges that winning passage in the Republican-controlled Senate is a tall order, but says it's important to build support for it now if a Democrat is elected president in 2020.
