WASHINGTON—Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC) Co-Chairs Reps. Raúl M. Grijalva (D-AZ) and Keith Ellison (D-MN) released the following statement today after the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released a report finding that an increase in the federal minimum wage to $10.10 would increase real incomes for working families:
“Too many Americans are working seventy or eighty hours a week and living in poverty. Working in a job that pays the federal minimum wage should mean a working parent can take care of her kids. The CBO report released today confirms that paying Americans a wage they deserve helps hard working families get out of poverty and increases wages for those who need it most.
“According to the report, increasing the federal minimum wage to $10.10 will help 900,000 people get out of poverty and will mean a raise for nearly 25 million people. This means families will have more in their pockets to spend on food, rent and clothes for their children, which is good for them and for our economy.
“Six hundred economists, including seven Nobel laureates, wrote a letter stating that recent studies have found that ‘increases in the minimum wage have had little or no negative effect on the employment of minimum wage workers.’ The CBO itself is careful to note that the projection of potential jobs lost in the report is an estimate and could be a ‘very slight reduction in employment.’
“In the richest nation in the world, a full time job should keep families out of poverty. The ratio of CEO-to-worker pay has increased 1,000 percent since 1950, while working Americans have struggled to provide basic necessities for their children. It’s time to pay working Americans a realistic living wage.”
###
