Minimum wage is one issue Congress won’t be able to ignore as they return to session this week, especially if they forgot to pack a lunch. Cafeteria workers at the U.S. Capitol plan to walk off the job along with hundreds of contracted employees in federal buildings like museums and the Pentagon on Thursday, Nov. 13.

Federal workers were given a raise by executive order earlier this year from President Obama, who upped the federal minimum wage to $10.10 an hour. Starting in January, workers with new contracts will see their paychecks increase. For some, the new minimum wage still isn’t enough in a city with a cost of living that is 24 percent above the national average, according to Forbes. Reuters reported that food workers in the U.S. Capitol cafeteria make $12 an hour without full-time hours, meaning that they aren't eligible for benefits. The strikers are calling for the federal government to only hire contractors that pay their workers at minimum of $15 an hour and provide benefits.

Republican members of Congress have traditionally blocked minimum wage efforts. But voters in conservative-leaning states like Alaska, Arkansas, Nebraska and South Dakota have showed overwhelming support for raising the minimum wage when put on the ballot. Now that battleground has extended beyond states’ polls and into the U.S. Capitol — just not as national legislation.