Sen. Bernie Sanders along with House and Senate Democrats introduced a bill today that will give Democrats a powerful rallying cry in 2018. Sanders and the Democrats want to raise the minimum wage to $15/hour.
Sen. Sanders said in a statement provided to PoliticusUSA, “For the last 10 years, Congress, giving tax breaks to the rich, has forgotten to raise the minimum wage. We are here to remind them th t a $7.25 minimum wage is a starvation minimum wage. Nobody can live on $7.25. You can’t live on $8. You can’t live on $10 an hour, and that is why we are saying that after 10 years of inaction the United States Congress is going to raise the minimum wage to a living wage: $15 an hour.”
Democratic struggles in previous midterm elections have been well documented, but the Democratic issue that has resonated with midterm voters from coast to coast is raising the minimum wage. Twenty-three Senate Democrats have signed onto the bill, which would raise the minimum wage above its peak effectiveness, which occurred in 1968.
The co-sponsor of the Raise The Wage Act, Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) said, “I’m so proud of the strong steps taken in my home state to make sure that full-time work doesn’t leave people in our communities living in poverty. I believe we need a $15 federal minimum wage to bring that progress to communities nationwide. It’s the right thing to do for working parents, for the nearly two-thirds of minimum wage workers who are women, and as I’ve heard from business owners in Seattle, it’s the right thing to do for our local economies.”
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If Democrats are going to expose Trump’s fake populism, and swing red congressional districts, they will do so with policies that have popular bipartisan support among voters. President Trump has stated on numerous occasions that he believes that wages are too high.
Democrats are going to hit Republicans in one of their weakest spots. The purpose of this bill isn’t to pass it in 2017, but to show voters exactly what Democrats can accomplish if they take control of Congress in 2018.
Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
