Washington, D.C. — Today, the U.S. House of Representatives voted to pass the Raise the Wage Act, which would raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2025. Following the vote, Neera Tanden, president and CEO of the Center for American Progress, released the following statement:
Today, the House defied President Donald Trump’s veto threat and took an important step to address poverty and inequality in the United States. A $15 hourly minimum wage would provide greater economic security to more than 40 million workers. Nobody who works a full-time job should have to live in poverty.
A $15 minimum wage reinforces the dignity of work and brings essentials such as rent, child care, and groceries within reach for hardworking Americans. For far too long, America’s workers have not received the pay that they deserve: The federal minimum wage has remained stagnant since 2009, with its purchasing power plummeting 17 percent over the past decade. Meanwhile, corporate profits have exploded, and CEOs and executives have grown richer off the backs of their workers.
Time and time again, research shows that raising the minimum wage is an effective way to reduce poverty and improve quality of life without any significant job loss. President Trump and U.S. Senate Republican leaders are standing in the way of 40 million hard-working people getting the decent wage that they deserve and are siding with their huge corporate donors to extract even more lavish profits at the expense of the “forgotten men and women” whom President Trump claimed he was fighting for in 2016. Once again, Trump’s agenda is clear: giving handouts in the form of tax breaks to the rich while breaking his promises to the working class.
For more information or to speak with an expert, contact Julia Cusick at [email protected] or 202-495-3682