By Kathy Wray Coleman, editor, associate publisher
CLEVELANDURBANNEWS.COM-WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH), a Cleveland Democrat and senior member of Congress, is joining some fellow Democrats, including Sen Bernie Sanders of Vermont, in pushing for federal legislation that would raise the federal minimum wage to $15 per hour.
The Raise the Wage Act of 2021, which is essentially a reintroduction of companion bills that went nowhere when Republicans were in control of the U.S. Senate, was introduced on Tuesday and would gradually increase the federal minimum wage in increments to $15 by 2025.
The measure, also part of President Joe Biden's $1.9 trillion relief package, is supported by unions, progressives, and activist groups, including those who want a $15 minimum wage increase through state lawmakers in Ohio and across the country, and was introduced by Sen. Brown, Sen. Sanders (I-VT), Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA), Rep. Bobby Scott (D-VA), Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) and Rep. Stephanie Murphy (D-FL).
“For too many people in this country, hard work isn’t paying off,” said Brown in a press release.
The incoming chairman of the Senate Committee on Banking Housing and Urban Affairs, Brown said that the current living wage is not keeping up with the times.
“While costs for Ohio families are rising and workers are more productive than ever, wages aren’t keeping up," the seasoned senator said. "It’s long past time that we recognize the value of work in our country, and that’s why I’m proud to join my colleagues in introducing this legislation and honoring the dignity of work.”
It has been a longstanding goal of the more progressive Democrats in Congress to get a federal law passed that would mandate a $15 minimum wage for American workers.
Cory Booker, the Black U.S. senator from New Jersey, is aboard, along with an array of House and Senate Democrats.
A 2016 and 2020 presidential candidate who made the $15 minimum wage issue a key part of his political platform, Sanders is the most vocal Senate Democrat advocating for the measure.
He says the current federal minimum wage, which is $7.25 an hour, is a disgrace and that "every worker in America should be able to make a minimum wage."
Nearly 17 million workers would see an increase in pay, including marginalized groups such as Blacks and Latinos.
Some states have minimum wage laws with wages higher than the federal minimum wage.
In cases where an employee is subject to both state and federal minimum wage laws, the employee is entitled to the higher of the two minimum wages.
Though Democrats now control the U.S. House and Senate, and the White House, passage of the measure is still a difficult effort.
Republican lawmakers, hammered by the business lobby, religiously oppose it, as do some Democrats who fear backlash and reelection problems in 2022.
They argue that businesses would suffer and a fraction of the workforce would lose their jobs behind a mandated wage increase that would more that double the current minimum wage requirement.
Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, Ohio's most read digital Black newspaper and Black blog, both also top in Black digital news in the Midwest. Tel: (216) 659-0473. Email: editor@clevelandurbannews.com. Coleman is an experienced Black political reporter who covered the 2008 presidential election for the Call and Post Newspaper in Cleveland, Ohio and the presidential elections in 2012 and 2016 As to the one-on-one interview by Coleman with Obama CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE AT CLEVELAND URBAN NEWS.COM, OHIO'S LEADER IN BLACK DIGITAL NEWS.
