Urge Your Representative to Vote for the Raise the Wage Act

From the Economic Policy Institute (http://www.epi.org/):

The federal minimum wage has not received an increase in nearly a decade. At $7.25 per hour, it is now more than 25 percent below where it was in real terms half a century ago.

But now, thanks to your hard work, we have a chance to pass a $15 minimum wage in the House of Representatives. And there’s a vote expected next month!

Go to https://actionnetwork.org/letters/tell-your-representative-pass-the-raise-the-wage-act-of-2019/ to write to your representative and urge them to pass the “Raise the Wage Act” and raise the wages of tens of millions of working people.

Because of policymakers’ failure to preserve the minimum wage as one of the country’s most basic labor protections, a single parent working full-time at today’s federal minimum wage is paid less than the federal poverty line.

New EPI research shows that raising the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour would directly or indirectly lift the wages of nearly 40 million working people―27 percent of the wage-earning workforce. This will generate $120 billion in additional income for families who need it most, including 23 million women and 5 million single parents.

EPI has provided the facts and figures for successful minimum wage campaigns in cities and states across the country, from New York City to Minneapolis to Seattle. Over the last five years, we’ve provided critical support in 30 successful state and local minimum wage campaigns. And now’s our chance to bring this fight to Congress.

Write to your representative today and join the EPI Policy Center and our partners in calling on Congress to raise the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour.

The “Raise the Wage Act of 2019,” introduced by Reps. Bobby Scott, Stephanie Murphy, and Mark Pocan, would raise the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2024, index the minimum wage to the national median wage, and phase out the “tipped minimum wage” of $2.13 for tipped workers.

EPI research shows that tipped minimum wage workers are better off in cities and states where they are paid the full minimum wage—and the restaurant industry in those places continues to thrive.

Join us and our partners and call on Congress to pass the “Raise the Wage Act of 2019” today!

Thanks to your hard work, now is our chance to pass a $15 minimum wage in the House and begin to implement our progressive economic agenda for the working families of this country.