House Approves $15 An Hour Minimum Wage

[Marilyn MonHoe 11,011]

The House voted Thursday to raise the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2025, delivering a long-sought victory to liberals and putting the Democratic Party’s official imprimatur on the so-called Fight for $15, which many Democratic presidential candidates have embraced.

The bill would more than double the federal minimum wage, which is $7.25 an hour — about $15,000 a year for someone working 40 hours a week, or about $10,000 less than the federal poverty level for a family of four. It has not been raised since 2009, the longest time the country has gone without a minimum-wage increase since it was established 1938.

The measure, which passed largely along party lines, 231-199, after Republicans branded it a jobs-killer, faces a steep climb in the Senate. Only three Republicans voted for it, while six Democrats opposed it.

At the time, the figure seemed absurdly high, and even Democrats thought it was politically impossible. In the years since, even Republican states like Arkansas and Missouri have raised minimum wages, encouraging Democrats on Capitol Hill. In 2016, Senator Bernie Sanders, independent of Vermont, pushed the issue to the fore when he challenged Hillary Clinton for the Democratic presidential nomination.

Raising the minimum wage to $15 by 2025 will pull 1.3 million American out of poverty and could result in wage increases for up to 27 million workers, according to a recent Congressional Budget Office analysis. But it would leave 1.3 million people, or 0.08 percent of the work force, out of a job, the same study concluded. While the legislation would boost incomes at the bottom, it would cost richer households and would slightly reduce gross domestic product.

A smaller minimum wage increase would be virtually painless, but it would also benefit fewer low-wage earners. If the pay floor increased to $10 per hour by 2025, for instance, 3.5 million workers might get a raise and there would be little effect on overall employment, the C.B.O. found.

Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/18/us/politics/minimum-wage.html

 

Thanks Bernie for bringing issues like $15 an hour minimum wage and Medicare For All to the forefront 

@OG Gaga Stan

@Morphine Prince

[Biggest Fan 988]

So people at Walmart will begin with $15.00 hr ? 

[imnotyourbabe10 6,120]

9 minutes ago, Marilyn MonHoe said:

Thanks Bernie for bringing issues like $15 an hour minimum wage and Medicare For All to the forefront 

Bernie and/or Warren 2020!

OT/OP: Thanks for the great news!  I can't wait to watch these capitalist, greedy employers reel over this -- though they will find ways around it, I'm sure.

[ChromeAngel 3,230]

So that just means the prices of everything, like food and rent, will just go up. What does this solve? Why not try to fix the huge gap between the lower and middle class 

[MurderLipstick 44]

On the one hand, I’m glad the wage has gone to a somewhat decent amount. On the other hand, this is going to cause so many more issues. This is now going make it so  those who need food assistance will no longer qualify (if they work 32-40 hours per week) due to the poverty limit/brackets. Realistically, $15 an hour is not a wage which say a single parent with 2 children can live off on. And with a good economy, prices are stronger, making it harder for those to afford rent, groceries, other services and goods. Once this all starts to add up, higher wages will be asked for and it’s just a perfect storm. Focus should be on free community college, and exponentially lower costs for universities. We want to our citizens and our future kids to be able to strive for greatness, and not be held back due to the fact that higher education is too costly. 

[QueerKekistani45 8]

So their policy position is tweaking the knobs until companies leave and the GDP plummets? Good plan if you want to expel free enterprise and get everyone on the government teet

[ChromeAngel 3,230]

9 minutes ago, QueerKekistani45 said:

So their policy position is tweaking the knobs until companies leave and the GDP plummets? Good plan if you want to expel free enterprise and get everyone on the government teet

YES. You said it so much better than I could 

[Emvee 8,854]

Amazing! 

[Petie Estie 5,736]

24 minutes ago, MurderLipstick said:

On the one hand, I’m glad the wage has gone to a somewhat decent amount. On the other hand, this is going to cause so many more issues. This is now going make it so  those who need food assistance will no longer qualify (if they work 32-40 hours per week) due to the poverty limit/brackets. Realistically, $15 an hour is not a wage which say a single parent with 2 children can live off on. And with a good economy, prices are stronger, making it harder for those to afford rent, groceries, other services and goods. Once this all starts to add up, higher wages will be asked for and it’s just a perfect storm. Focus should be on free community college, and exponentially lower costs for universities. We want to our citizens and our future kids to be able to strive for greatness, and not be held back due to the fact that higher education is too costly. 

 

24 minutes ago, QueerKekistani45 said:

So their policy position is tweaking the knobs until companies leave and the GDP plummets? Good plan if you want to expel free enterprise and get everyone on the government teet

 

13 minutes ago, ChromeAngel said:

YES. You said it so much better than I could 

this raise will only bring the minimum wage's buying power back in line to what it used to be. It will be gradual over 5+ years. 

The issue with losing jobs:

1) 13 million people have more than one job. They would HOPEFULLY lose one and only need to rely on the other: https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2019/06/about-thirteen-million-united-states-workers-have-more-than-one-job.html

2) if your business can't be sustained without employing people into poverty, you shouldn't be in business. 

[derpmonster 22,412]

31 minutes ago, ChromeAngel said:

So that just means the prices of everything, like food and rent, will just go up. What does this solve? Why not try to fix the huge gap between the lower and middle class 

Companies have consistently raised prices anyway. Federal minimum wage hasn't gone up in 10 years. Prices have. 

They're gonna go up regardless. We might as well pay people well while we're doing it. 

[Guest]

Come thru Bernie! Yas!

[Morphine Prince 109,838]

33 minutes ago, SEANGT said:

2) if your business can't be sustained without employing people into poverty, you shouldn't be in business. 

If your business can only survive with slave wages then I hope it shuts down  

[Morphine Prince 109,838]

Newsflash: We have been scammed for decades while wages have remained stagnant. 

Y’all actually think current wages are fair?  

Wages going up won’t cause society to collapse. 

 

[joannesrats 26]

1: This is one of the only good things I'll attribute to Bernie Sanders lol

2: If you think our economy or companies will collapse due to paying people minimum wages then we have much, much bigger problems to face. 

[Woolfsmck 2,763]

Will buisness pay $15 min wage see an increase in revenue?

If not what are the consequences?

It not as hard and fast as many above are stating.

Mc Donald's (for example) pays out the same labor costs as before...Higher wages but fewer people employed.... automated ordering and payment kiosks...

Walmart has self check out as does Lowe's and Home Depot.   

Hailing this as a victory before the real effects become evident is short sighted and opens the possibility of an eqrigous error without recourse or worse recognition. 

Might see another round of (it was their fault) do nothing stagnation.