Progressive Democrats wanted to pass a $15 minimum wage proposal tucked into President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion stimulus package as part of an effort spearheaded by Sen. Bernie Sanders, but eight Democrats squashed the proposal.
The anti-minimum-wage-increase Democrats are all white, and at least seven of the eight are millionaires.
The rejection of the wage increase drastically affects Black America. Of the 53 million U.S. workers earning low wages who would have benefited from a minimum wage increase, 54 percent are Black and 37 percent are white, according to a 2019 report from the Metropolitan Policy Program at Brookings. Sanders wanted to raise the federal hourly minimum wage from $7.25 to $15 but failed. He has vowed to introduce an amendment to put it into the legislation, The Independent reported.
Collectively, the eight Democrats who said “no” are worth more than $43 million, Business Insider reported. They are Sen. Chris Coons of Delaware (worth $10.13 million), Sen. Angus King of Maine ($9.49 million), Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia ($7.62 million); Sen. Tom Carper of Delaware ($5.73 million), Sen. Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire ($3.82 million), Sen. Jon Tester of Montana ($3.67 million), Sen. Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire ($3.47 million), and Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona (not available).
Twitter had some thoughts.
“Primary all of them !! What a disgrace. Anyway thank you Bernie for fighting for us,” tweeted one person.
Another remembered that Republicans were needed to pass the vote as well. “Not to forgive these Dems but this vote needed 60 votes to pass. It wasn’t going to pass anyway due to REPUBLICANS. Keep that in mind”
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The federal minimum wage has not been increased since 2009. A boost from $7.25 to $15 an hour could lift close to 1 million Americans out of poverty, according to the Congressional Budget Office.
“We cannot address racial equity if we do not address the minimum wage of $15,” wrote Rev. Dr. William Barber II, co-chairman of the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival in In These Times.
“There’s no such thing as racial equity when you just address police reform and prisons but you don’t address the issue of economic justice. And if you address economic justice, guess what? It helps Black people, and white people, and brown people, and Latino people. It helps everybody. Everybody in, nobody out,” Barber wrote.
