Senator Bernie Sanders says the widespread suffering caused by the pandemic-induced economic crisis has made it “morally imperative” to raise the US minimum wage to $ 15 an hour. And in an interview with the Guardian, Sanders and other lawmakers who are pushing for a higher minimum wage say the chances of enacting a $ 15 minimum are better than ever, now that President Joe Biden has asked for a $ 15 federal minimum. as part of its Covid emergency legislation package.
Raising the minimum to $ 15 would be more than double the current federal minimum wage of $ 7.25 an hour, but many Republicans are opposed to the move, saying it would hurt business.
In an interview, Sanders, who advocated a $ 15 minimum wage as a presidential candidate in 2016 and 2020, expressed enthusiasm about the prospects for raising the minimum wage, which has not increased since 2009, the longest period without an increase since the Congress enacted a minimum wage in 1938.
“This country is facing a huge economic crisis that is exacerbated by the pandemic,” said Sanders. “We are facing terrible levels of unemployment. We are looking at increasing income and wealth inequality. What worries me more than anything is that half of our people live on wages for wages. Millions of people are trying to survive on starvation wages. For me, it is morally imperative to increase the minimum wage to a minimum wage of US $ 15 an hour ”.
The House voted last July to raise the minimum wage to $ 15 in stages by 2025, but Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell blocked a vote on him. With the White House, the Senate and the House under Democratic control, Sanders said there is a good chance of enacting a minimum of $ 15, although he said it would be difficult to attract 10 Republican senators to support him, making it difficult to overcome an obstruction.
Sanders, the next chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, sees another path for approval, saying that this could be done under “budgetary reconciliation” – a process in which measures considered to have a budgetary impact can be approved by a simple majority of votes.
“This clearly has to be done through reconciliation. I’m working on it a lot, ”said Sanders.
Mary Kay Henry, president of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), which played a key role in supporting the fight for $ 15, sees a considerable boost behind a minimum of $ 15.
That momentum has come a long way since the $ 15 Fight began in 2012, when 200 fast-food workers in New York went on strike for a day. “We are incredibly proud that the momentum around $ 15 has solidified as part of the presidential campaign, and that the Biden-Harris government is so committed to doing this that it put it on Congress’ first action for emergency relief to Covid” . Henry said. “The wind is on our backs.”
![Rita Blalock: 'I feel like it's not [Biden’s] first 100 days, it will be swept under the rug. '](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/aec4a44f18a9b18a394224fb30abd687217e4691/0_160_4592_2754/master/4592.jpg?width=620&quality=45&auto=format&fit=max&dpr=2&s=9d26512c04cacae9d940f5d7e00cbbb6)
Henry noted that Raphael Warnock and John Ossoff campaigned for a minimum of $ 15 in their successful Senate races in Georgia. In addition, Florida voters, while supporting Donald Trump, voted overwhelmingly – 61% to 39% – to raise that state’s minimum to $ 15 by 2026.
“A minimum of $ 15 is the most concrete way to reduce racial inequality, put money in people’s pockets and make material changes in people’s lives,” said Henry. The Economic Policy Institute, a progressive thinktank, found that raising the minimum to $ 15 would help 25% of black workers, 19.1% of Hispanic workers, 13.1% of white workers and 10.8% of Asian workers.
A Pew poll found that Americans are in favor of raising the minimum amount to $ 15, from 67% to 33%. Henry warned that “any elected official in Congress who dares to oppose us will pay a high political price.”
Rita Blalock, a McDonald’s cook in Raleigh, North Carolina, prays for a minimum of $ 15. Blalock, who makes $ 10 an hour after almost 10 years at McDonald’s, said he often depends on food pantries and cannot afford to pay. $ 200 rent every two weeks in a pension. “Fortunately, I can eat for free at work,” said Blalock, whose working hours have been reduced to 20 hours in many weeks.
Asked what a minimum of $ 15 would mean, Blalock, 54, said: “My God, I could pay the rent. I could eat a little better. I could finally buy myself some clothes. “
Blalock participated in many of the one-day strikes for Fight for $ 15. “I feel like if I don’t pass [Biden’s] the first 100 days, it will be swept under the carpet, ”she said.
A minimum of $ 15 faces strong Republican opposition from senators, including Pat Republican, Pennsylvania Republican, who said that “if the federal government sets a universal minimum wage of $ 15, many low-income Americans will lose their current jobs and find fewer opportunities employment in the future. “
Michael Saltsman, managing director of the Employment Policy Institute, a corporate-backed research group, also said it would be a bad time to enact a minimum of $ 15.
“You have a lot of business hanging by a thread,” he said. “A minimum of $ 15 is an irresponsible proposition at any time, and it is especially true now.”
Saltsman said the Senate should not vote a minimum of $ 15 through reconciliation, arguing that its budgetary effect would be minimal. With the Senate divided by 50 to 50, he questioned whether Democrats would be able to muster 50 votes for a minimum of $ 15, suggesting that center Democrats like Joe Manchin of West Virginia could refuse.
Bill Dauster, one of the top advisers to former Senate majority leader Harry Reid, wrote in a recent editorial that raising the minimum would have clear budgetary effects and could be voted on through reconciliation.
Many Republicans say the federal minimum should remain at $ 7.25, leaving any increase to individual states. Walmart chief Doug McMillon says that if there is an increase in the minimum wage, he should take “geographical differences” into account, considering the different costs of living, say, in California and Mississippi.
The Congressional Budget Office predicted that 1.3 million workers would be unemployed due to an increase to $ 15. This study also predicted that 27 million workers would receive salary increases thanks to a minimum of $ 15, and the number of people in poverty would decrease by 1.3 million.
Arindrajit Dube, professor of economics at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, said that a review of economic studies shows that “more ambitious minimum wage policies have not yet had a clear impact on jobs, although they have certainly increased wages and reduced inequality” .
“Overall, the body of literature shows that it has very little effect on low-paid jobs,” said Dube. “My work shows that this leads to poverty reduction and an increase in family income, and perhaps 35 cents on the dollar goes back to the government by reducing public assistance.”
Unlike Dube, economists David Neumark and Peter Shirley, in a recently released review of the minimum wage survey, conclude that “most evidence indicates the opposite – that minimum wages reduce low-skilled employment”, with effects stronger on teenagers, young adults and the less educated.
Senator Sanders said it is outrageous that the purchasing power of the minimum wage has decreased by 30% since the late 1960s. “The fact that President Biden has acted aggressively on this is important for the workers who will benefit,” said Sanders .
“It is a signal to the whole country that workers cannot continue to live on hunger wages, and I hope that message will reach employers across the country.”