Voters Want Action For THEM
A few days ago we looked at some of Biden’s shortcomings as a president.There were a lot of them— and regardless of all the bullshit about what all he’s accomplished many voters are looking at what he didn’t do for them. Did he get a minimum wage increase? Did he codify a woman’s right to Choice? Did he raise taxes on billionaires? Did he cut back on fossil fuel use? Did he get us Medicare-for-All? Did he get comprehensive immigration reform passed? Did he get the PRO Act passed for his union allies? Did he ameliorate the affordable housing crisis? Did he do anything on campaign finance reform? Is Louis DeJoy still the postmaster general? Oh, yeah… and is Israel committing genocide with American weapons and Americans’ tax dollars?
Yesterday, Erica Payne, co-founder of Patriotic Millionaires. Focused on the first one on the list, without blaming Biden. “New research from our allies at Oxfam,” she wrote, “has found that there are more than 39 million workers in the United States— in other words, 1 in 4— earning less than $17 an hour. Women and communities of color, especially Black and Latino or Hispanic workers, are the most impacted. According to estimates from the MIT Living Wage Calculator, there is not a single county in the US where a full-time worker making the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour— which comes out to just $15,080 a year— can afford basic essentials.”
Her point is that “Congress must immediately act to raise the federal minimum wage to a living wage that allows workers to actually sustain themselves and their families, with an automatic mechanism to ensure the wage continues to meet the cost of living. The Raise the Wage Act of 2023 would raise the federal minimum wage to $17 over five years. This critical increase would lift millions out of poverty, fight gender and racial inequality, and strengthen our economy. It would also abolish the federal subminimum tipped wage, which is a mere $2.13 per hour. In 2021, 34% of tipped wage workers reported their tips and wages combined didn’t meet their state’s minimum wage. And, to compound the issue, 35% of tipped workers reported experiencing wage theft in the last year.”
She’s right. Instead of Democratic members sitting round wetting themselves over Biden’s age, if they want to win, they should pass a minimum wage increase. The Senate can do it in a week and House Democrats… can at least demonstrate to the public who exactly is standing in the way— by forcing Republicans to oppose it. Payne concluded that “Raising the wage isn’t just good policy: it’s a key to victory. No less than 74% of voters support raising the federal minimum wage. And since 1996, every statewide ballot initiative to raise the minimum wage has won, even in red states. We must raise the wage floor in America to one that can serve as a foundation for a robust economy, ensure all workers share in the unprecedented prosperity of our nation, and help prevent wealth inequality from destabilizing our democracy.”
The current minimum wage is inhuman and forces workers to take two or even three jobs to survive and try to raise a family. The Democrats neded to get it done— or hammer home who is keeping them from getting it done. DC elites are too far from the issue personally to understand what a priority it should be.
How does this become enacted with the House passing the same thing?
sure. erase another one that exposes your hypocrisy. after all, you're not here to do any good. only to keep the ghastly status quo for another few months.
Senate can do it in a week
Or it gets filibustered and buried before anyone's aware of it. And the House will bury it under some subcommittee, so it wouldn't pass there, either. There's got to be some better way to communicate to the working poor that the reptilicans want to keep them there.