WASHINGTON – Congressman Dwight Evans
(D-Pa.) voted to raise the national minimum wage from the current $7.25 per hour to $15 by 2024 on July 18. The Raise the Wage Act would raise pay for 1.475 million Pennsylvania workers, about 25 percent of the state’s workforce. About 209,000 African American workers and 176,000 Hispanic workers in Pennsylvania would benefit.
“A raise for these workers is long overdue. Congress has not raised the national minimum wage for 10 years. Pennsylvania has not raised its minimum wage for 13 years! Inflation has raised the cost of living nearly 19% from 10 years ago. The costs of basic needs like food, health care, housing and utilities all went up,” Evans said.
“Members of Congress from both parties should be able to agree that no one who works full-time should live in poverty,” he continued. I’m very focused on poverty because my city of Philadelphia has a 26 percent poverty rate. Raising the minimum wage is one of the best tools in the tool box for lifting Americans out of poverty.
That includes 1.3 million workers and 600,000 children who would be lifted out of poverty by the Raise the Wage Act.
The Americans who are working the hardest to grow our economy need to share the rewards of that growth. The CEOs have definitely been getting their raises. But where is the raise for the people who cook their food, make their beds and clean their offices?
The new Democratic majority in the House of Representatives is taking action to help working people. Elections have consequences!
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