Sen. Bernie Sanders joins Rep. Justin Jones at Fisk to rally for $17 per hour minimum wage

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“No one in America should be forced to work for starvation wages,” Sanders said. “Poverty is a death sentence, and we’re here to say we will no longer accept that."

Sanders’ speech was part of a national tour to raise support for his proposal to raise the federal minimum wage to $17 over a five-year period. The legislation is expected for a markup in the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions later this month.

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Congress last raised the federal minimum wage in 2009 to $7.25 per hour. Since then the U.S. dollar has lost nearly 30 percent of purchasing power, according to the Economic Policy Institute.

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Sanders and Jones were joined by Rev. William Barber, co-chairman of the Poor People’s Campaign, who described the federal government’s failure to pay workers a “living wage” as “a form of political abuse.” He recalled that during the pandemic, federal officials called working-class employees “essential,” but “treated them like they were expendable.”

https://www.tennessean.com/story/news/politics/2023/06/02/sen-bernie-sanders-visits-nashville-to-rally-for-17-minimum-wage/70269482007/