Sen. Bernard Sanders introduced legislation Thursday to raise the federal minimum wage to $17 an hour — setting a new goal post for liberals on the issue.
Mr. Sanders, a Vermont independent, said a minimum wage hike at the federal level was long overdue, given that inflation has hoisted the cost of living.
“If you work 40 to 50 hours a week, you should not be living in poverty,” said Mr. Sanders. “Today in America, it is unacceptable that while the richest people have become much richer, over 60% of our people are living paycheck to paycheck.”
Congress last raised the federal minimum wage to $7.25 per hour in 2009.
Mr. Sanders and other liberals have long pushed to hike the federal minimum wage. The aim for years was $15 per hour.
Now Mr. Sanders and allies within organized labor say that is no longer sufficient. They say inflation has pushed the cost of living higher and workers need to make at least $17 to stay out of poverty.
“We live in a country with wealth on levels never seen before in human history,” said Liz Shuler, the president of the AFL-CIO. “Thirty million dollar homes … mega yachts, billionaires who fly rockets into space, while we have people who work 40 hours a week but cannot live with basic dignity.”
The bill comes the same week that state legislators in New York voted to raise the minimum wage from $15 to $17 an hour. New York lawmakers are phasing in the wage hike through 2027, at which point the minimum wage will also be indexed to inflation. In...
The Trump administration’s fraud prosecution of the Southern Poverty Law Center is set for arraignment on Thursday afternoon. Ahead of the scheduled court appearance in Alabama, defense lawyers fo...