Help Raise the Minimum Wage

Our guest blogger, Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-MA), is the ranking Democrat on the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee in the Senate.

Yesterday, I offered an amendment on the Senate floor to raise the minimum wage to $7.25 an hour in three steps over the next two years. This increase will help almost 15 million Americans rise out of poverty. This vote is critically important, and I need your help to win this fight.

As many of you know, the federal minimum wage hasn’t been raised in nine years. A minimum wage worker, who works full-time, 52 weeks a year, makes $5.15 an hour—$10,700 a year. That’s not even enough to keep a single parent with one child above the poverty line!

Despite our efforts, Congress year after year has refused to give working men and women the raise they deserve. Yet Congress keeps giving itself annual pay raises—it’s the height of hypocrisy.

But now, we have a real opportunity. We’ve had significant minimum wage victories in red states and blue states alike, and an increase received strong bipartisan support in the House Appropriations Committee last week. The momentum is growing, and the time for action is now!

Make calls, send emails – tell Senators to support the Kennedy Amendment to raise the minimum wage. Ask your friends and neighbors to take a stand for a fair minimum wage too.

Thank you for your help. Together, we can see that minimum wage workers finally get the raise they deserve!

– Ted Kennedy