Today, Senate Republicans blocked a raise for Americans that would put more money in their pockets to spend on basic needs, stimulating the country’s economy.

“Giving working families a raise to $10.10 would lift more than 1 million of our neighbors out of poverty and give a paycheck boost to an estimated 28 million Americans – benefitting families and the broader economy by generating $22 billion in new economic activity. But Senate Republicans once again refuse to side with working families,” U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor (D-Tampa/St. Petersburg). 

“We will not stop fighting for average Americans whose wages are not keeping up with rising costs, forcing them to fall further behind as they struggle to fill their gas tank, pay for child care or other living expenses.”

Yesterday, House Republicans voted to block raising the minimum wage for the seventh time. Rep. Castor is a cosponsor of the Fair Minimum Wage Act (HR1010) in the House of Representatives. 

“Republicans should side with our working neighbors and their economic struggles, not just the wealthy and corporations,” U.S. Rep. Castor said. “Critics of giving working families a raise erroneously say that raising the national minimum wage would mainly help teenagers who work part time and live with their parents, but that profile is far from reality. Eighty-eight percent of those helped by giving Americans a  raise to $10.10 are adults, 56 percent of those are women and 55 percent work full time.”

Nearly five years have passed since the last increase in the federal minimum wage. Currently, a full-time minimum wage worker makes less than $16,000 per year, which is below the poverty line for a family of two or more. 

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