WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — Congressional Democrats will begin a push on Thursday to raise the U.S. minimum wage to $12 an hour, an increase of $4.75 over where it is now.
Sen. Patty Murray of Washington and Rep. Bobby Scott of Virginia will introduce the legislation Thursday.
The U.S. minimum wage is now $7.25 an hour, an amount that hasn’t changed since 2009.
President Barack Obama and congressional Democrats have backed raising the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour. That effort, however, has sputtered in the face of resistance from Republicans.
Obama has acted by executive order to set a $10.10 minimum wage for federal contract workers.
The proposal from Murray and Scott would raise the minimum wage to $12 an hour by 2020. They estimate the legislation would raise the pay of nearly 38 million American workers. Republicans are unlikely to support the effort, especially with elections looming in 2016.
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9 comments:
The masses need to be suppressed.My big fat retirement won't be as impressive once a $12 minimum wage drives up inflation.
Yay, reward people for being complacent and not learning a trade or skill. Genius!
Why not make it $20 ?
These idiots are just trying to reward the unions who contractual pay scale is based on a multiple of the minimum wage.
When the slugs at McDonalds start making $12 per hour, then the #1 combo will be priced at $12, and everything else in the world will cost proportionally as much.
It will do NOTHING but devalue the dollar
From the May 1 New York Times: "Nearly three-fourths of the people helped by public assistance are members of families headed by someone who works.... It is estimated that state and federal governments spend more than $150 billion a year on such aid.... The problem is that as labor standards have eroded, allowing profitable corporations to pay chronically low wages, taxpayers are not only supporting the working poor, as intended, but also providing a huge subsidy for employers by picking up the difference between what workers earn and what they need to meet basic living costs. The low-wage business model has essentially turned public aid into a form of corporate welfare."
Does everyone think this is a good thing?
If minimum wage goes to 12 an hour, I figure my salary should about double too.....
Many advocates of higher minimum wages argue that the minimum wage needs to rise to help low-income single parents. However, minimum wage workers do not fit this stereotype more than the population as a whole. Just 6.1 percent of minimum wage workers over the age of 24 are single parents working full-time, compared to 6.3 percent of all hourly workers.[6]
Conclusion
Many support raising the minimum wage because they want to help low-income Americans get ahead. But while some minimum wage-earners do live below the Poverty line, these workers are far from representative. Only one in five minimum wage-earners lives in a family that earns less than the Poverty line. Three-fifths work part-time, and a majority are under 25 years old. Minimum wage-earners' average family income is almost $50,000 per year. Very few are single parents working full-time to support their families-no more than in the population as a whole. It is not surprising, then, that studies show that higher minimum wages do not reduce Poverty rates.[7] Instead of raising the minimum wage, Congress should look at other ways to aid the working poor that actually focus on providing help to those who need it.
Rea S. Hederman, Jr., is a Senior Policy Analyst, and James Sherk is a Policy Analyst, in the Center for Data Analysis at The Heritage Foundation.
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[1] Based on the Bureau of Labor Statistics's Current Population Survey. All numbers, except average household income and Poverty status, come from the 2005 Merged Outgoing Rotation Group (MORG) file of the CPS. Poverty and household income statistics come from the full 2005 CPS data. See Bureau of Labor Statistics, "Characteristics of Minimum Wage Workers: 2005," at
McDonalds has already ordered the self order kiosks.....
Boehner and McConnell need to keep this bottled up just like Dingy Harry sat on the budget.
The Dems are always happy to give away something belonging to others if it sounds good and will influence a voter regardless of how toxic the aftereffects.
Time to lower congress paychecks.
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