In tonight's State of the Union address, President Obama is expected to announce an Executive Order to raise the minimum wage for federal contractors to $10.10 per hour. Raising the minimum wage has been a plank in the President's and Democratic Party's platform for years, but a bill to raise the minimum wage has not passed Congress. The current minimum wage is $7.25. 

The Executive Order is expected to apply only for new contracts. Many Republicans have warned that raising the minimum wage will lead to increased unemployment, particularly among young people. Democrats, particularly those in the Progressive Caucus, however, have argued that the minimum wage has been too low for years, and that its buying power has been eroded by inflation.