{"id":27545,"date":"2023-07-26T11:52:36","date_gmt":"2023-07-26T18:52:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=27545"},"modified":"2023-07-26T11:52:38","modified_gmt":"2023-07-26T18:52:38","slug":"time-for-congress-to-act-sanders-scott-unveil-17-federal-minimum-wage-bill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2023\/07\/26\/time-for-congress-to-act-sanders-scott-unveil-17-federal-minimum-wage-bill\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Time for Congress to Act’: Sanders, Scott Unveil $17 Federal Minimum Wage Bill"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Sen.<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) speaks during a press conference with labor leaders and service workers on May 4, 2023 in Washington, D.C.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 (Photo: Jim Watson\/AFP via Getty Images)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Raising the federal wage floor is the single most efficient, effective\u2014and wildly popular\u2014bipartisan tool we have to deliver economic stability to working people,” said one supporter of the legislation.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

JESSICA CORBETT<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jul 25, 2023 (CommonDreams.org)<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Economic justice advocates applauded Tuesday as U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders<\/a> and Congressman Bobby Scott formally introduced the Raise the Wage Act of 2023<\/a>, which would increase the federal hourly minimum wage from $7.25 to $17 by 2028.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The legislation was first announced<\/a> in May but the lawmakers finally unveiled the bill text a day after the 14th anniversary<\/a> of the last time the national wage floor was lifted. In the years since 2009, the Fight for $15 movement has pressured several U.S. state and local governments to boost<\/a> wages, but Republicans and some Democrats in Congress have blocked<\/a> similar federal efforts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The $7.25 an hour federal minimum wage is a starvation wage. It must be raised to a living wage\u2014at least $17 an hour,” Sanders (I-Vt.), who chairs the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, said in a statement. “In the year 2023, a job should lift you out of poverty, not keep you in it.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“At a time of massive income and wealth inequality and record-breaking corporate profits, we can no longer tolerate millions of workers being unable to feed their families because they are working for totally inadequate wages. Congress can no longer ignore the needs of the working class of this country. The time to act is now.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A low minimum wage hurts all underpaid workers, but disproportionately harms workers of color bc they're overrepresented in the underpaid workforce. The #RaiseTheWage<\/a> Act would lift the federal wage floor to $17 by 2028, benefiting 28 mil workers, incl. 14 mil workers of color.\u2026<\/p>— National Employment Law Project (@NelpNews) July 25, 2023<\/a><\/blockquote>