I signed this electronic petition. If you agree with the sentiment, you might want to sign it too.
So here’s the question that the right-wing extremists who control the Republican Congress will put before the Senate:
“Over seven million Americans can have a raise of $2.15 an hour by raising the minimum wage, but only if we give a tax cut to 7,500 ultra-rich people at a cost of $753 billion dollars.”
It’s despicable, it’s wrong, and we need to stop it.
Senate Republican Leader Bill Frist has said that this will be the only vote he will allow on a minimum wage increase this year.
Enough is enough. Contact your Senators and tell them to reject this shameful bill by signing this petition:
http://www.democrats.org/page/petition/wage/fqvyle
Thanks!
P.S. — Here are some simple facts that can’t be ignored:
* Someone working full-time for the $5.15 federal minimum wage makes just $10,700 a year. A single mom with two kids who works full-time for the minimum wage is about $6,000 below the poverty line.
* The federal minimum wage has been stuck at the same rate since 1997. Since then, Republican leaders have raised the salaries of Senators seven times. Salaries of lawmakers have gone up by $35,000 — almost three times the entire yearly income of someone on minimum wage.
* The real value of the minimum wage is more than $3.00 below what it was a generation ago, and right now has its lowest buying power in over 50 years.
* The minimum wage is the lowest it has been in over 50 years relative to the average wage.
* Raising the minimum wage to $7.25 an hour adds up to more than one year of groceries, over 9 months of rent, a year and a half of heat and electricity, or full tuition for a community college degree.
Please do what you can to help call attention to this vitally important issue.
The world’s richest and most powerful country must do better.
(Yes, I know electronic petitions are for the most part ineffectual, but I had fun signing this one)