Progressive Rep. Pramila Jayapal says Biden is 'very, very interested' in getting more workers overtime pay

• Progressives have been calling for more than doubling the overtime eligibility threshold for workers.
• Now a key progressive leader says President Joe Biden is "very, very interested" in their recommendation.

A leader of Congress' progressive wing sees an opening with President Joe Biden to give millions of Americans a raise by boosting the number of workers who can receive overtime pay.

The Congressional Progressive Caucus has been lobbying the Biden administration to more than double the overtime eligibility threshold from $35,568 to at least $82,732 a year by 2026, with annual automatic updates.

Rep. Pramila Jayapal of Washington said she spoke this week with Biden about the recommendation, which could allow more than 30 million workers to get paid overtime "for work they're already doing."

"This is a really big item that we hope that the president — and the president was very, very interested in this, when I spoke to him yesterday — and hopefully we can try to get this done quickly," she said during a news conference at the House Democrats Issues Conference in Baltimore on Thursday.

Jayapal said she spoke with Biden about the issue at a White House event celebrating Biden's nomination of Julie Su as Labor Department secretary. Su awaits confirmation.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Under the Fair Labor Standards Act, covered employees are guaranteed overtime pay of not less than one-and-a-half times their regular pay rate for any hours worked in excess of 40 hours per workweek.

The Congressional Progressive Caucus included the measure last year on a slate of recommended executive actions for the president. Biden has already enacted some of those recommendations.

Jayapal said caucus members will work next week on narrowing down their executive action agenda items to those that will have the most impact and that are the most doable.

"Not everything, but many of the things on the agenda are things that we know that the White House wants to work with us on," she said.