Scott Bessent, President-elect Trump’s Treasury secretary nominee, said Thursday that he would not support raising the minimum wage. Bessent, if confirmed, would not have the authority to raise wages, which would require an act of Congress. But Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who introduced a bill in the 117th Congress to raise the minimum wage to $15, asked Bessent, a hedge fund manager, to work with him and other lawmakers who want to implement a “living wage.” “I believe that the minimum wage is more of a statewide and regional issue,” Bessent said during his confirmation hearing before the Senate Finance Committee. “So you don’t think we should change the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour?” Sanders asked. “No, sir,” Bessent responded. The national minimum wage has been stuck at $7.25 since 2009, although 30 states and dozens of cities, including the District of Columbia, have increased the effective minimum wage, according to the Economic Policy Institute. About 30 million Americans were paid less than $15 per hour in May 2022, just more than a quarter of the nation’s workforce, according to a recent report by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Another 22.8 percent, or 33.8 million workers, made between $15 and $19.99 per hour. Trump said in a December interview with "Meet the Press" that he would “consider” raising the federal minimum wage, although he did not commit to a specific figure. He also warned that raising the minimum wage too much could hurt businesses. "The other thing that is very complicated about minimum wage is places are so different," he said. "Mississippi and Alabama and great places are very different than New York or California in terms of the cost of living and other things."