Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri proposed a invoice Tuesday that might increase the federal minimal wage to $15 per hour, his newest transfer to border himself as a brand new form of pro-worker Republican.
Hawley’s laws just isn’t in any hazard of truly turning into regulation — his fellow Republicans maintain a majority within the Senate and have been blocking minimal wage will increase for years. However the proposal aligns him with a core Democratic demand and additional separates Hawley from the normal anti-union, free-market wing of the GOP relating to labor coverage.
“Right now, working families, I mean, they haven’t gotten a real wage raise in years, and they can’t afford anything,” Hawley informed HuffPost. “Right now, the federal minimum wage, if you index it for inflation, or relative to inflation, it’s the lowest level since the 1940s.”
The federal minimal is simply $7.25 per hour and hasn’t been raised in additional than 15 years, by far the longest such stretch because it was created in the course of the Nice Despair. It prevails within the 21 states that presently don’t mandate a better one, lots of them clustered within the South.
“Right now, working families, I mean, they haven’t gotten a real wage raise in years, and they can’t afford anything.”
– Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri (R)
Hawley’s invoice, co-sponsored by Democratic Sen. Peter Welch of Vermont, would increase the wage ground to $15, then tie it to an inflation index in order that it goes up with the price of dwelling — a typical function in additional progressive laws. Such a hike would drive will increase in all however the largely blue states the place the wage ground has already been raised above that stage.
Hawley didn’t fake that his proposal stands a lot likelihood of turning into regulation. “I will try to move it. I mean, I’d love to get a vote on it,” he stated.
The proposal places Hawley far forward of different Republicans, however nonetheless behind Democrats on the difficulty. Most Democratic lawmakers are actually pushing for a $17 minimal wage, arguing that $15 — the rallying cry of the Battle for $15 labor marketing campaign, which started within the quick meals business in 2012 — has turn into insufficient as a dwelling wage as a result of inflation.
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Though he helps a extra aggressive increase, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) appeared happy to see Hawley separate himself from different Republicans on the difficulty.
“I think every Democrat, last month, voted to raise the minimum wage to $17, and I’ll look forward to working with Sen. Hawley,” Sanders informed HuffPost on Tuesday, referencing an April vote on an modification to a symbolic funds decision. The modification failed by a vote of 47 to 52 with each Republican besides Hawley voting no.
Hawley stated that if the Republican Get together needs to model itself because the social gathering of working folks — which it does, based on statements from President Donald Trump and different leaders — then Republicans must again insurance policies that profit the working class.
“This is what President Trump ran on. I mean, if we’re going to be a working party, we have to do something for working people, and working people haven’t gotten a raise in years,” Hawley stated.
“Hawley’s positioning himself as a populist, pro-worker conservative has drawn plenty of suspicion from progressives who fear it’s a ploy to further drain the Democratic Party’s working-class support.”
Hawley just isn’t the primary Republican to again a minimal wage improve. Again in 2021, Sen. Tom Cotton (Ark.) and then-Sen. Mitt Romney (Utah) proposed a lift from $7.25 to $10. However the invoice included an immigration measure that might have mandated nationwide use of e-Confirm to crack down on undocumented employees, a poison tablet for Democrats that isn’t a part of Hawley’s laws.
Earlier this yr, Hawley launched a coverage platform dubbed a “Pro-Worker Framework.” It included some pro-labor reforms usually related to Democrats, like placing limits on obligatory “captive audience” conferences, through which employers strain employees to not kind unions.
Then, in March, he joined Democratic Sen. Cory Booker (N.J.) in proposing a invoice that might velocity up the method for employees to safe their first union contracts, the type of laws a typical Republican wouldn’t go close to.
As with Vice-President J.D. Vance, Hawley’s positioning himself as a populist, pro-worker conservative has drawn loads of suspicion from progressives who worry it’s a ploy to additional drain the Democratic Get together’s working-class assist. However relating to perhaps shifting laws, lawmakers like Sanders like the thought of getting a Republican to work with.
“It would be great if we could get some other Republicans,” the Vermont senator stated. “$7.25 federal minimum wage is a national disgrace. We’ve got to raise it.”
