一个参议院委员会将很快着手一项法案，将最低工资提高一倍以上——尽管该法案通过的可能性很小。
来自佛蒙特州的无党派人士、参议院卫生、教育、劳工和养老金委员会主席伯尼·桑德斯说，每小时17美元的最低工资是必要的，以帮助工人跟上美国各地生活成本的上涨。
桑德斯周四宣布，“今天早上我很高兴地宣布，6月14日，参议院帮助委员会将制定一项法案，在五年内将最低工资提高到每小时17美元。”
参议员的建议——比他的增加2美元2021提案桑德斯在谴责国会无所作为的言论中表示。
“国会上一次通过最低工资法案是在2008年。你觉得是时候养了?我知道，大多数美国人也知道，所以我们会尽我们最大的努力，尽快把这个法案付诸实施。
背景是工人举着写着“尊重我们”的标语。保护我们。付给我们工资”——这是工人们后来在新闻发布会结束时高呼的一条信息——桑德斯说，以目前每小时7.25美元的最低工资，工人们是不可能生存的。
“这个国家没有人能靠7.25美元生存。也许我在国会的一些同事可能想靠七又四分之一的收入生活一个月，看看是什么样的，”桑德斯说，他身后的工作人员显然同意了。
当被问及该法案在民主党人控制的众议院的前景时，桑德斯警告说，那些反对“流行”想法的人将面临政治后果。
桑德斯对记者说:“我们正专注于确保我们在参议院和众议院获得提高最低工资的投票。”“正如你今天所听到的，这是一个热门话题。...我希望每个国会议员都明白这将会有政治后果，”他补充道。
在周四的新闻发布会上，工人、工会领导人和一名经济学家加入了桑德斯的行列。
“在疫情经济复苏的紧张劳动力市场中，低薪工人的工资难道没有自然增长吗?”劳工部前首席经济学家海蒂·希尔霍尔兹问道。
“是的，他们有，”她说。“但生活成本也在上升。”
周四加入桑德斯的工人声称，拟议的加薪可能会对普通美国人的口袋产生巨大影响。
“挣17美元终于减轻了一些压力，”塔拉·汤普森(Tara Thompson)说，她一生都在做低薪工作，最近开始每小时挣17美元。"我仍在努力养家，但我终于能够按时支付账单了。"
2023年5月4日，在DC华盛顿州国会大厦外举行的关于提高联邦最低工资的新闻发布会之前，劳工活动家“妈妈饼干”布拉德利给参议员伯尼·桑德斯(I-VT)赠送了一件t恤。
Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
2021年，参议院民主党核心小组的八名成员加入了所有共和党人的行列，投票否决了桑德斯将最低时薪提高到每小时15美元的提案。桑德斯还在前三届国会中提出了“提高工资法案”，其他所有迭代都未能通过委员会。
曼钦当时辩称，许多地方已经采用了比联邦政府设定的更高的最低工资要求。
“伯尼选择了15美元，你知道吗，很多地区和州已经转向15美元，”曼钦在2021年3月7日美国广播公司新闻的“本周”节目中说，当时他推动了一个更温和的每小时11美元的联邦最低工资，该工资将随着通货膨胀每年增加。
弗吉尼亚州民主党参议员马克·沃纳，说如果最低工资太高，公司可能会被诱惑“离岸”工作，参议院少数党领袖米奇·麦康奈尔，R-Ky。，指责民主党人“推动会拖累我们复苏的经济政策，比如众议院投票赞成一刀切的最低工资政策，这会扼杀140万个就业岗位。”
最低工资上调15美元可能会导致140万人失业，同时也会让90万美国人摆脱贫困，根据国会预算办公室2021年的报告。
Bernie Sanders introduces his largest minimum wage proposal yet
A Senate committee will soon take up a bill that would more than double the minimum wage -- though the legislation's chances of passage are slim.
Sen. Bernie Sanders, an independent from Vermont who chairs the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, said a $17-an-hour minimum wage is needed to help workers keep pace with the rising cost of living across the United States.
"I am delighted to announce this morning that on June 14, the Senate HELP Committee will be marking up a bill to raise the minimum wage to $17 an hour over a five-year period," Sanders announced Thursday.
The senator's suggestion -- a $2 increase from his2021 proposal-- is designed to keep pace with inflation, Sanders said in remarks decrying congressional inaction.
"The last minimum wage bill passed by Congress was in 2008. You think it's time to raise it? I do [and] most Americans do, so we're gonna do our best to get this off to the floor as soon as we can," he said.
Against the backdrop of workers holding signs reading "Respect Us. Protect Us. Pay Us" -- a message the workers later chanted at the end of the presser -- Sanders said it would be impossible to survive on the current minimum wage of $7.25-an-hour.
"Nobody in this country can survive on $7.25. And maybe some of my colleagues in Congress might want to live for a month on seven-and-a-quarter and see what that's like," Sanders said as the workers behind him audibly agreed.
When asked about the bill's prospects in a chamber narrowly controlled by Democrats, Sanders warned those who opposed the "popular" idea would face political consequences.
"We're focusing on making sure that we have the votes in the Senate and the House to raise the minimum wage," Sanders told reporters. "And as you've heard today, this is a popular issue. ... I would hope every member of Congress understands that there will be political consequences," he added.
Sanders was joined by workers, union leaders and an economist during Thursday's press conference.
"Haven't wages for low-wage workers naturally grown in the tight labor markets of the pandemic recovery?" asked Heidi Shierholz, the former chief economist for the Department of Labor.
"Yes, they have," she said. "But so has the cost of living."
Workers who joined Sanders on Thursday claimed that the proposed increase could have an outsized impact on the pockets of everyday Americans.
"Making $17 is finally taking some of the pressure off," Tara Thompson, who has worked low-wage jobs her whole life and recently began receiving $17 an hour, said. "I still struggle to support my family, but I'm finally able to pay my bills on time."
In 2021, eight members of the Senate Democratic Caucus joined all their Republican counterparts in voting down Sanders' proposal to raise the minimum hourly wage to $15 per hour. Sanders had also introduced "The Raise the Wage Act" in the previous three Congresses, with all other iterations failing to make it out of committee.
Manchin argued at the time that many localities had already adopted higher minimum wage requirements than the one set by the federal government.
"Bernie has chosen $15 and, you know what, an awful lot of areas and states have moved to $15," Manchin said on ABC News' "This Week" on March 7, 2021, when he pushed instead for a more modest $11-an-hour federal minimum wage that would increase each year with inflation.
Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va.,saidthat corporations might be tempted to "offshore" work if the minimum wage were too high, and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., accused Democrats of "pushing economic policies that would drag down our recovery, like the House votes for a one-size-fits-all minimum wage policy that would kill 1.4 million jobs."
A $15 minimum wage hike could cost 1.4 million jobs while also lifting 900,000 Americans out of poverty,according toa Congressional Budget Office report from 2021.
