Congressmember Alan Lowenthal (D-Long Beach) joined with U.S. Sen. Bernard Sanders, Rep. Keith Ellison and 29 U.S. House members on July 21 to introduce new legislation that would raise the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour.
About 62 million U.S. workers make less than $15 per hour, including more than 50 percent of African-American workers and close to 60 percent of Latino workers, according to Lowenthal’s office. About 46 percent of workers who are making less than $15 per hour are age 35 or older.
The Pay Workers a Living Wage Act seeks to raise the federal minimum wage over four years, ending with a $15 minimum wage by 2020.
“Hard-working Americans deserve to make a living wage and not be relegated to subsistence wages providing only the bare necessities for eating, sleeping and getting to work with no opportunity to obtain the American Dream,” Lowenthal said. “No American should be forced into the harsh spiral of paying to work and working to pay. We are the most prosperous nation on the planet, and we can do better.”
Seattle, San Francisco and Los Angeles have already raised their minimum wage to $15, according to Lowenthal. Similar increases are being considered in other cities and states across the country, such as Sacramento and Massachusetts.
A national poll released in January 2015 showed that 63 percent of Americans— representing all demographics— support raising the federal minimum wage to $15 per hour.
