U.S. Senator Tom Harkin says he’ll bring up legislation again to raise the federal minimum wage.
The Iowa Senator is sponsoring a federal minimum wage increase to $10.10 an hour. Efforts to pass that legislation were blocked Wednesday in the Senate. But Harkin says the bill has public opinion on its side.
"Polling consistently shows that more than two-thirds of Americans support a raise to $10.10. And that includes a solid majority of Republican voters. Americans understand that this is an issue of basic fairness. They believe that no American who works full-time should be paid a wage that keeps them in poverty. Raising the minimum wage is one of the simplest and most effective things we can do to make people’s lives better."
Harkin disputes the findings in a CBO report on the minimum wage increase. That report says 500,000 jobs could be lost if the wage is increased. Harkin says it also highlights that 7 million people would come out of poverty.
Harkin’s comments came Thursday during his weekly conference call.