Mitt Romney And Kyrsten Sinema Team Up On Bipartisan Proposal To Increase Minimum Wage

[brooklynite]

Source: Huffington Post


Sens. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) are in the process of crafting bipartisan legislation to increase the minimum wage, Romney confirmed to HuffPost on Wednesday.

“We’re negotiating a minimum wage proposal which we would ultimately take to our group of 20 and see how they would react to it and go from there,” Romney said, referring to a bipartisan group of 20 senators who are hoping to find ways to make the Senate function better.

The Utah senator declined to share more details about the proposal, including its timeline. A spokesperson for Sinema did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

“I think it’s $11,” Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) said when asked about the measure.

Read more: https://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/us_60771d6fe4b001befb6fc904

[flor-de-jasmim]

1. They should not be allowed to raise their own wages without raising the min., and by the same amount

[jpak]

2. Nope

$15

Yup

[brooklynite]

7. Pick one: a $15 increase that doesn't pass; an $11 increase that does.

[TwilightZone]

11. I'm not sure why people can't grasp this simple concept.

They'd rather screw everyone over than get millions and millions of people a very necessary raise.

[moose65]

17. Yep

Like it or not, Democrats don’t have a large majority in Congress. This is going to be a long game - build the majority election by election. That being said, an increase to $11 or $12 is certainly a lot better than $7.25.

[Miguelito Loveless]

21. How about we hold the vote for $15, then

let them go on record voting "no" and suffering the consequences? Then keep bringing it back up for a vote until they get the message.

Sinema used to back the $15 wage, but then forgot about it when she got to DC.

[NYC Liberal]

27. Consequences? Republicans defended Trump to the bitter end and they increased their majority

in the House.

[oldsoftie]

33. Which should show us that the election was more about beating TRUMP.

We must remember that Biden BARELY won this election even running against the worst president in history. People voted for Biden & their GOP Rep or Sen

[Miguelito Loveless]

40. Or Sinema and Manchin take so much heat

for voting against it the first time, they decide to vote for it the second time.

This is like the filibuster. Manchin and Sinema don't have to actually suffer the consequence of what they do, they just threaten to vote against, and our side caves. Manchin and Sinema get ZERO blame, but the Dems as a whole suffer. You bring the bill up every damn month, and hang its failure on their neck. Put THEM in the spotlight for screwing the poor by voting against a law with 70%+ support.

[Probatim]

41. In 2061, we'll have the same conversation...

Do you want $15 (from the $11 passed in 2021) which will pass or $19 which won't?

The larger issues are tax reform and equity. Fortunately, our side can multitask.

[flibbitygiblets]

3. Sounds good, Manchin. You get $11 an hour until further notice.

Let us know how that works out for you.

[peppertree]

28. Or 1/30th of an Epipen

Imagine that.

[Lovie777]

4. 11 dollars is a slap in the face . ..

ugh

[oldsoftie]

18. Yes, I refuse your 60% raise! I'll stick with my $7.25!

Nonsense.

[George II]

23. "If I can't get the whole cake, I don't want ANY!"

[PoliticAverse]

24. You'll take your crumbs and you'll be happy with them! n/t

[oldsoftie]

34. So a 60% increase is "crumbs"? Ok

[jaysunb]

5. Trojan horse 🐎 nt

[Indykatie]

6. Looks Like Sinema is Trying to Rehabilitate Her Reputation Afterd Her Earlier Mis-step

With the need for 50 Senate votes whatever they come up with won't be anywhere need $15.

[Wanderlust988]

8. This is one of those issues where doing nothing helps no one

Do you take $11/$12 and give an automatic raise to many folks, or do you hold out for $15/hr that will never pass and then no one gets a raise. I say we take the deal and fight for a more Democratic Senate and House next year and raise it some more then.

[bucolic_frolic]

9. Don't give Mitt room for revival. Why do we do these self-flagellating things?

Don't cooperate. Did they cooperate with you?

[TwilightZone]

10. Sure, let's leave it at $7.25 just to ensure Mitt can't get any credit.

That sounds like a great idea. Screw anyone who it would help out of pure partisanship.

[oldsoftie]

20. + a whole lot.

[turbinetree]

12. Bullshit...................

Bipartisan....I keep thinking of what Bain Capital did to workers, a fucking vulture capitalist trying to give a $3.75 hour increase from $7.25 per hour to $11.00 per hour and to top it all off they (senators) are making over $174,000 a year, and when broken down that is $14,500 month, and then everyday they make $483.00 per day............now fucking compare that to a 8 hour day at $11.00 = $88.00............... which means these senators are just like cooperate CEO's that is about a 300% difference in pay in a day of wages..........

[brooklynite]

13. So better to get no increase at all?

[turbinetree]

14. I feel the work force should go on general strike

[brooklynite]

15. Something else that will never happen...

I’ll stick with reality.

[turbinetree]

16. I keep forgetting this is a Right to Work for Less country

that is a reality.

[oldsoftie]

22. You're one of the few who does.

too many always talk about unicorns & rainbows that never materialize.
I guess maybe some folks want NO progress so they can keep the right to complain.

[AZProgressive]

31. I haven't seen any evidence a $11 will pass either

They reject the $15 minimum wage and turn around and come up with their own proposal then people come here to insult us.

[oldsoftie]

35. The evidence is Romney being a part of it. We only need ONE vote.

And other GOP votes could come with the lower rate. And any democrat who votes against a 60% increase in the minimum wage is just trying to get a campaign slogan

[AZProgressive]

36. The minimum wage in Arizona is $12.15 per hour

So Sinema isn't giving Arizona a raise. If Romney proposes something I recommend reading the fine print. I don't mind helping others in states beside my own because I believe in collectivism but I'm interested in the details which Romney in the article declined to discuss.

[oldsoftie]

37. States are still free to set their own rates. Like AZ, many others have already raised it.

But this would help those that havent

[BumRushDaShow]

39. Here in PA, the minimum wage is STILL $7.25/hr (as a state with the 6th highest population)

and the efforts to knock some damn sense in the shitbag GOP-majority state assembly, have been futile. The $7.25 has been in place for the past 12 years.

The latest proposal from our (D) governor Tom Wolf, is to first move to $12/hr starting in July of this year and slowly work up to $15 by 2027.

And of course that is getting the DOA treatment from the sadistic party that enjoys coming up with and deploying the very worst policies against everyone but themselves.

[Probatim]

42. It's been a long time since I worked for minimum wage, but I think a lot of companies

hire above the minimum.

Even in PA, chains like Sheetz are starting employees above that.

[BumRushDaShow]

43. Well we have no Sheetz here in Philly (this is a Wawa town)

But here are the facts -

Philly has the lowest minimum wage of any major U.S. city, new study says

by Sam Wood
Updated May 20, 2020

In Baltimore, if you work for minimum wage, you’ll pull in $11 an hour. In Boston, you’ll earn about $12.75. In Washington, D.C., it’s $14. In New York City, $15. But there’s only one major stop along Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor where minimum-wage earners are guaranteed an income below the federally defined poverty line.

That’s Philadelphia, where minimum-wage earners eke out $7.25 an hour.

Pennsylvania’s largest metropolis has what is effectively the lowest minimum wage of any major city in America, according to a study published Wednesday by the Pew Charitable Trusts. “Philadelphia is kind of an outlier, particularly for cities in this section of the country,” said the study’s author, Seth Budick, an officer with Pew’s Philadelphia Research and Policy Initiative.

“We knew going in that Philadelphia would be among the lowest when the minimum was adjusted for local wage levels and the cost of living,” Budick said. “But we didn’t anticipate it being the absolute lowest.” In terms of the raw dollar figure, Philadelphia is tied with Pittsburgh and a dozen other major municipalities in offering the least-paid workers the federally mandated minimum of $7.25.

https://www.inquirer.com/business/minimum-wage-philadelphia-lowest-pew-poverty-20200520.html

Here is the above-referenced Pew Report - https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/issue-briefs/2020/05/how-philadelphias-minimum-wage-compares-with-other-us-cities





We are insulted daily by the media - we being the FOUNDING CITY of this great nation - as being "the poorest big city" in the whole wide world!!1111!!

A little over 2 years ago, the mayor signed bills raising the minimum wage for city workers/contractors, but that is as far as we can go because PA state law prohibits municipalities from raising the minimum wage for private entities, based on what is called a "Preemption" law.

[Miguelito Loveless]

19. People making $1,067 per day of work

(163 days in 2020) telling people working all year (260 days, if you get a vacation) that making $88 a day is sufficient.

[ancianita]

25. Sure, give them support and let 'em get credit. Make them vote to end the filibuster for it.

Or make the deal that they find at least 8 other Republicans who pledge to reciprocate on the S1 bill. IF they really want a Republican party revival, they need to reciprocate.

This cheap copy-cat doing-something-for-the-people by cheaping out on their own health care or infrastructure bills won't do them a damn bit of good in the long run, not with corporations being against donating to them. This is their game. Do just enough to retain corporate support.

They will look all the worse by 2022 as the DOJ indictments roll out on trumpcult insurrectionists through the year ahead. They've already fucked around with this country. long enough.
Biden notwithstanding, we're ready to go it alone.

[TexasBushwhacker]

26. Tom Cotton is an idiot

He wants to take 5 years to raise the minimum to $10, and he wants to require employers to use E-Verify to make sure they aren't hiring "illegals". Does he not realize that employers hire undocumented workers because they can't get anyone else to do their shitty jobs for shitty wages and no benefits. Over half our agricultural workers are undocumented. Most Americans don't want to do that back breaking work for any amount of money and they haven't for DECADES.

[cstanleytech]

29. I oppose a flat increase simply because its to low and wages will remain stagnant still as

businesses will not increase their workers wages to what it should really be currently.
Instead wages should be based on a formula that uses the federal poverty level which is not set by Congress.
The formula should look something like
Federal poverty level for one person $12,760 + 200% = $38,280 divided by 52 weeks = $736.15 a week divided by 40 hours = $18.40
Thus we arrive at a minimum wage of $18.40 an hour.

[pecosbob]

30. Own goal

[Deminpenn]

38. $11 today, $15 or more tomorrow

You know who this will help? The people many of us depend on as care-gvers either in a home or LTC facility. The LTC homes with which I'm familiar would both have to raise the pay of their direct care workers.

Coupled with this should be an increase in the amount of "outside income" a person on social security, disability or other means-tested gov't programs can make before being penalized. I know there are people using these programs who deliberately work for peanuts because of the income penalty.