Issue Position: Minimum Wage

Issue Position

A person working a standard 40 hour week earning minimum wage would earn $15,080.00 per year. This is barely above the poverty rate for a single person and below the poverty rate for a family of four.

Americans encounter hard times finding good paying jobs which is another blow to the Middle Class. There are many people living on minimum wage that must then rely on some form of government subsidies to supplement their woefully low income in order to provide for their families. This is nothing more than corporate welfare. The government is making up the difference for corporations not paying people a livable wage.

The Republican ideology suggests that the market place will set appropriate wage rates. The market is completely profit driven and higher wages is not in its best interests. Prior to the 2007 enactment, the minimum wage was set at $5.15 in 1997. The next increase came in 2007 and the minimum wage was raised to $5.85. It had to be raised by an act of government because the market place saw no need to raise it. Regardless of what Mitt Romney believes and the Supreme Court thinks, a corporation is not a person. It does not think, it does not feel, it does not reason. It makes money or it dies. Lower wages supported by government subsidies for the employees keeps expenses down and profits up.

Hard working Americans need to make a livable wage. Anything less is unconscionable and I will continue to fight for the Middle Class to ensure every working person is earning a livable wage.

It is time that the Sixth Congressional District had a member in Congress that will fight for the District. If elected to Congress I will be a tireless advocate for the Middle Class and our District and will work with for the good of the District. The Middle Class is the backbone of our country and the driver of our economic well being. I will fight to give the Middle Class the economic opportunities they deserve.

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