Lucas, at just $7.25 an hour, the federal minimum wage
leaves
a family of three living below the poverty line—unable to afford
rent for a modest, two-bedroom apartment even while working a standard
40-hour work week.
With momentum growing across the country to raise the minimum wage, now is the time to pressure Congress to support this legislation and lift millions of Americans out of poverty.
Sign the petition from CREDO and Daily Kos: Raise the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour.
Progressive champions Rep. Keith Ellison, Rep. Raul Grijalva, and Senator Bernie Sanders recently introduced the Pay Workers a Living Wage Act. This legislation would gradually raise the minimum wage to $15 per hour by 2020, then index the wage to inflation for following years. The bill would also phase out the tipped minimum wage and make it easier for federal workers to join a union.
While Republicans and corporate special interests invoke doom and gloom if we raise wages, the opposite has in fact been the case. In fact, of the twenty-nine states and dozens of cities and towns that have set their own minimum wage above the federal minimum, many are seeing faster job growth than the rest of the country.
On the heels of recent victories by our friends in the Fight for $15 movement across the country, there is no better time to increase pressure on Congress to support raising the federal minimum wage to no less than $15 an hour.
Sign the petition from CREDO and Daily Kos: Raise the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour.
Keep fighting,
Monique Teal, Daily Kos