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House Co-Sponsorship Memoranda
House of Representatives
Session of 2019 - 2020
Regular Session
MEMORANDUM
| Posted: | January 30, 2019 01:16 PM |
|---|---|
| From: | Representative Summer Lee |
| To: | All House members |
| Subject: | Urging Congress to Raise the Minimum Wage |
| Raising a family on $7.25/hour is an impossible task, but that is the reality for thousands of Pennsylvanians. A full-time worker earning the minimum wage makes just $15,000 annually and many low-wage earners live below the poverty line, in spite of having a full-time job. The minimum wage in Pennsylvania is currently pegged to the $7.25/hour federal minimum wage, which has not been raised since 2009. For tipped workers, the minimum wage is just $2.83/hour. In effect, this means that tipped workers have to put up with inappropriate or abusive behavior from clients and customers just to make a living. It is time that we have one fair wage in Pennsylvania for all workers. This resolution urges Congress to take action to raise all wages to $15/hour. Low-wage earners are often characterized as teenagers working for spending money or part-time workers looking to get out of the house, but that is simply not the case. Workers earning less than $15/hour include single parents, students supporting their own education, and the caregivers to our children, parents, and grandparents. They are former high-wage workers who lost their previous job during the Great Recession and have struggled to find a new position with comparable wages and benefits. They are our family members, friends, and neighbors. In other words, the people working these jobs are all of us. At the very least, a full-time job should provide enough to pay for a family’s basic necessities. That is certainly not true as things stand today. As billionaires and big corporations get tax cuts, the workers that create their wealth struggle to survive. We need a fairer economy that works for everyone. We need one fair wage in Pennsylvania. Please join me in supporting Pennsylvania’s working families by urging Congress to raise the minimum wage to $15/hour. |
Introduced as HR190