Last updated on January 29th, 2021 at 11:12 am
“Fox and Friends” co-host Brian Kilmeade criticized efforts to raise the federal minimum wage, which has remained at $7.25 an hour for more than a decade, the longest amount of time without an increase.
Kilmeade defended paying workers $7.25––an amount data shows no one can realistically live on––saying, “What you do is you work your way up on that wage and in the meantime you do what almost everyone else has done in the past, you get another job to supplement as you work your way through.”
“Even if it means going to school at night, you find a way,” he continued. “You don’t ruin a business in order to… in order to… I guess get votes from people.”
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The “Fox and Friends” segment comes after Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Congressional Democrats announced a $15 minimum wage bill during a video conference yesterday.
The Raise the Wage Act “would increase the federal minimum wage to $15 in five steps over the next four years, increasing pay for nearly 32 million workers,” according to a press release.
The move is supported by workers’ rights groups, while those advocating on behalf of small businesses say raising wages would slow the country’s economic recovery.
Kilmeade also criticized Sanders, saying that a measure to improve wages should not be trusted “with a socialist leading the charge.”
You can watch Kilmeade’s comments in the video below.
Brian Kilmeade lies that the minimum wage is supposed to be "entry-level," to dismiss workers' needs by telling them to simply work their way to higher wages, which are "going up naturally" anyway — or just get a second job like "almost everyone else has done in the past." pic.twitter.com/sJnwE3ZWLU
— Bobby Lewis (@revrrlewis) January 27, 2021
Alan is a writer, editor, and news junkie based in New York.
