Representative Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) said Tuesday on MSNBC’s “The Last Word” that the Democrats won the majority in the House and Senate and Joe Biden won the presidency because they promised to pass coronavirus relief that that would include a $15 federal minimum wage.
Jayapal said, “I just keep reminding everybody that we won the Senate majority, the House majority and the White House because black, brown, indigenous, poor working people across this country were crying out for help and for a change in leadership and they were willing to give Democrats one more shot at really trying to get them the relief that they deserve and that they need. And I’ll tell you that moral argument right now actually did do a lot to keep people together in terms of what Democrats promised on the campaign trail and what we now have to deliver.”
She continued, “You know we don’t have a lot of time here. The midterms are in two years. We need to show people that their lives are appreciably better, that we can get control of the virus and we can put money in people’s pockets. That’s why for the Democratic causes the two most important priorities were making sure we had survival checks that went to the same, you know, group of people that got them last time and that we kept the thresholds the same and also minimum wage. So we have been very clear about that. I think that every Democrat who is balking at a $15 minimum, not less than $15, a $15 minimum wage should remember it was 2002 when fast food workers first went out and started calling for a $15 minimum wage. It was 2015 when we passed it in Seattle, the first major city to do so. It has been 12 years without a single cent being increased for our lowest wage workers.”
Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN
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