Sen. Bernie Sanders (I., Vermont) said the powerful Senate committee he chairs—the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee—will take up a bill next month to raise the federal minimum to $17 an hour over five years.
The increase amounts to an jump of more than 134% from the current federal minimum of $7.25 an hour.
The famously liberal senator did not say if he’ll also seek to raise or eliminate the minimum wage required under federal law for tipped workers. Under the current rules, regularly tipped employees like restaurant servers and bartenders can be paid as little as $2.13 an hour directly by their employer if they make at least $5.12 an hour in gratuities.
An increase in the federal minimum wage was last proposed in 2007 and passed by Congress in 2008, according to Sanders. “Think the world has changed since then?” the senator asked at a press conference where he announced his plan.
Sanders said he decided on $17 an hour because it’s the new “living wage,” a term that was coined by organized labor when it first started pushing years ago for raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour.
“As a result of inflation, $15 an hour back in 2021 would be over $17 an hour today,” Sanders said.
“This is not a radical idea,” he continued. He noted that even the residents of such conservative states as Nebraska and Florida have voted overwhelmingly via referendum to raise their locale’s minimum. Sanders said the tallies underscore that raising the pay floor has broad...
BRENTWOOD, Tenn. (WSMV) - A Tennessee doctor has pleaded guilty to committing millions of dollars’ worth of Medicare fraud through her Brentwood optometry practice. Helen Boerman, 48, pleaded guilt...