Vice President Kamala Harris said for the first time Tuesday that she backs hiking the federal minimum wage to at least $15 an hour after blasting former President Donald Trump for dodging a question about whether he wants to raise it.
As the two rivals race to win over voters in the final weeks of the campaign, Harris and Trump have both tried to demonstrate their support for working-class Americans. The federal minimum wage – which has been stuck at $7.25 since 2009 – has become a talking point recently, especially after Trump temporarily worked as a fry attendant at a McDonald’s in Pennsylvania on Sunday.
While Harris has said for months that she would push to raise the minimum wage, she did not specify a threshold until asked by NBC News on Tuesday.
“At least $15 an hour, but we’ll work with Congress, right? That’s something that is going through Congress,” Harris told NBC as part of its interview with the candidate.
Trump, however, didn’t answer directly when asked during his brief stint at McDonald’s whether he thinks the federal minimum wage should be lifted, saying “Well, I think this: I think these people work hard, they’re great.”
Asked to respond to Harris’ support for a $15 minimum wage, the Trump campaign cited a statement from Republican National Committee spokesperson Anna Kelly that accused Harris of “lowering real wages and raising prices via reckless spending.”
Harris took Trump’s punt as opportunity on Monday to show the contrast between her and her Republican rival, though she did not reveal at that time how high she would want to raise the threshold.
“So, there is a big difference between Donald Trump and me on a number of issues, including this, where I absolutely believe we must raise minimum wage and that hardworking Americans, whether they’re working at McDonald’s or anywhere else, should have at least the ability to be able to take care of their family and take care of themselves in a way that allows them to actually be able to sustain their needs,” she said ahead of a campaign stop in Michigan.
Full-time workers earning $7.25 an hour make $15,000 a year, “which is essentially poverty wages,” noted Harris, who included a promise to raise the federal minimum wage in her proposal to eliminate federal income taxes on tips, which she unveiled in August.
Harris has cited her summer working at McDonald’s as a young woman as an example of her understanding working Americans’ lives, while Trump has called into question – without evidence – whether she actually worked there.
Longtime Democratic goal
Democrats have long pushed to raise the federal minimum wage, which hasn’t been lifted in a record 15 years. But Republicans, backed by employers, have argued it will cost some workers their jobs.
Those making the federal minimum wage earn 29% less, after accounting for inflation, than their counterparts did in July 2009, according to an analysis by the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute that was published in April. And the federal floor has fallen far below a living wage, say those who support increasing it.
The $15 threshold was popularized by the Fight for $15 movement, which began in 2012 as an effort to call attention to the paltry pay of low-wage workers, including those who work at fast-food restaurants.
The Biden administration tried to hike the minimum wage to $15 an hour as part of its massive Covid-19 pandemic relief bill shortly after taking office in 2021. However, the Senate parliamentarian did not allow that provision to be included.
At the time, raising the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour would have reduced the number of people in poverty by 900,000 and increased the pay of about 27 million workers, according to a Congressional Budget Office report. But it would also have lowered employment by 1.4 million workers and increased the federal budget deficit by $54 billion over a decade.
After being stymied by Congress, the Biden administration increased the minimum hourly pay of hundreds of thousands of federal employees and contract workers to $15.
But many states and municipalities have been raising their minimum wages in recent years – some being required to by voters at the ballot box.
Some 30 states and the District of Columbia have higher thresholds than the federal floor, according to the Economic Policy Institute. Plus, 63 localities have adopted minimum wages that are above their state thresholds.
Many employers in lower-wage industries have also been hiking their starting pay in recent years, especially as they have sought to attract and retain workers in the wake of the pandemic. Amazon announced in 2018 that it would raise its minimum wage to $15 an hour for all US employees. Target did the same in 2020.
