Posted on 04/26/2017 2:37:31 PM PDT by mdittmar
Sen. Murray: “It’s the right thing to do” for working parents, women, and local economies
Washington, DC – Addressing hundreds of low-wage workers outside the U.S. Capitol, Sens. Patty Murray (D-WA) and Bernie Sanders (I-VT) announced legislation that would raise the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour.
“I’m so proud of the strong steps taken in our state to make sure that full-time work doesn’t leave people in our communities living in poverty,” Senator Murray said. “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 our state, it’s the right thing to do for our local economies.”
“It is a national disgrace that millions of full-time workers are living in poverty and millions more are forced to work two or three jobs just to pay their bills,” Senator Sanders said. “In the year 2017, a job must lift workers out of poverty, not keep them in it. The current federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour is a starvation wage and must be raised to a living wage.”
Eighteen Senate Democrats have signed onto the bill, which would raise the minimum wage to $15 per hour by 2024 and would be indexed to the median wage growth thereafter. This raise would increase the minimum wage higher than its 1968 peak. The federal minimum wage has not been raised since 2009.
While labor productivity has more than doubled since the late 1960s, pay for workers generally, and for low-wage workers in particular, has either stagnated or fallen since the 1970s. At the same time, income for those at the top has skyrocketed. The richest one percent have seen their income grow by 15 percent since 2009 and by more than 130 percent since the late 1960s.
Sanders and Murray’s legislation would give more than 41 million low-wage workers a raise, increasing the wages of almost 30 percent of the U.S. workforce. A $15 minimum wage by 2024 would generate $144 billion in higher wages for workers, benefiting their local economies.
The bill will also gradually eliminate the loophole that allows tipped workers and workers with disabilities to be paid substantially less than the federal minimum wage, bringing it to parity with the regular minimum wage. Moreover, it would also phase out the youth minimum wage, that allows employers to pay workers under 20 years old a lower wage for the first 90 calendar days of work.
The current list of cosponsors includes: Sens. Schumer, Durbin, Blumenthal, Booker, Brown, Cantwell, Gillibrand, Feinstein, Franken, Harris, Hirono, Kaine, Leahy, Markey, Merkley, Reed, Schatz, Van Hollen, Warren, Whitehouse and Wyden.
The bill will be introduced in the Senate soon.
Read a summary of the bill here.
Read a copy of the bill here.
And all that money is >taken< from taxpayers to fund the government including her salary and pension for life.
Is is so obvious that anything supported by these two economic morons is a bad idea.
Excellent! More Human lay-offs and Robot hires! It’s a Win/Win!
*SMIRK*
Members of the Socialist Democrat Party are certifiably insane.
20 hours a week at 7.50. That’s 150 bucks a week.
Good enough for getting through the school week and having some money for the weekend. Maybe even save a few bucks.
Cause that’s what those jobs are for!!!
Fast food restaurant CONSTANTLY have sales now that are a third of the original price and lower than 10 years ago.
Tat means they’re not making a fortune.
Didn’t anybody tell them they lost the election last November?...................
No. They need to get rid of federal workers, not pay them more.
Patty was at a huge rally,LOL!
“I’m so proud of the strong steps taken in our state to make sure that full-time work doesn’t leave people in our communities living in poverty,” Senator Murray said.”
once Obama care goes There will be a lot more people with FULL TIME jobs. Un till then this will not help anything.
JMHO
Did Senators Murray and Sanders explain why they want to make low income jobs harder to come by? Perhaps Senators Murray and Sanders can just cut to the chase and tell us why they hate poor people so much.
Also, how about Bernie give us this thoughts on the Venezuelan social paradise? How much more suffering at the hand of Government is needed before the utopia fully sets in? Wonder what level of starvation do his supporters feel we too should have here in America to earn our very own slice of paradise?
If they are “low wage workers” how were they able to get time off, travel to D.C. and pay for hotels and meals?
DOA
Looks like the democrats will do anything to keep companies from hiring workers as Trump creates an economic boom...
Problem is, when Patty speaks, stupidity often spills out. Why not make it $50/hr, Patty? It’s such a great idea, why stop at $15/hr???
Um. You need to re-think that. A state university costs $7,500/semester or $15,000/yr or $288.00/wk JUST FOR TUITION! A $7.50/hr job isn't worth the hassle of juggling school and work. Why do you think these kids are so far in debt?
The Constitution does NOT give the feds ANY authority AT ALL to meddle in wages (or prices).
And oh, BTW, in case the Constitution doesn't matter to anyone anymore, wage (and price) controls are the stupidest thing to come along since prohibition. Minimum wage KILLS PRODUCTIVITY, KILLS ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY AND THE ECONOMY, and KILLS JOBS.
Why not $30 or $40 per hour, Patty? That would really help working people.
The unions don’t want to push their luck,$15 an hour sounds good to them union car-washers.
An E-1 with less than two hrs service makes $19,200.
No way the two are comparable. And the E-1 has far more responsibility and their life on the line.
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