Every week at All Saints Church we put our faith into action. This week we urge our senators to lift millions of America’s workers out of poverty and reduce social inequities by raising the federal minimum wage to $17 an hour.

Senator Bernie Sanders has announced legislation that would raise the federal minimum wage to $17 an hour.¹

The last time Congress raised the minimum wage — to $7.25 an hour — was in 2009. Since then, due to rising inflation, the value of that $7.25 per hour has decreased by 27%.

With a $7.25 minimum wage, we are condemning millions of American workers to financial hardship and poverty. Fifty-two million workers currently make less than $15 an hour in the U.S, including over 11 million single parents.

Poverty wages harm women and people of color the most. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, nearly two-thirds of workers earning at or near the federal minimum wage are women — disproportionately Black and Latina women.

This is a policy choice. Raising the federal minimum wage to $17 an hour would lift millions of America’s workers out of poverty and reduce social inequities. This is a choice that Congress and President Biden must make.

The Patriotic Millionaires Vice-Chair Stephen Prince said it best:

“As it becomes more and more expensive to get by in America, $15 is no longer an adequate goal. We need to go higher to reflect what it actually costs to live in America. Sanders is right to revise his minimum wage push to $17 an hour to save workers across the country from further suffocation.”

Raising the minimum wage isn’t just the morally right thing to do — it’s politically popular. In the last 20 years, 100% of statewide ballot initiatives to raise the minimum wage have won, regardless of the political leanings of the state.²

While 30 states plus D.C. have raised their minimum wage above the stingy federal level, millions of people live in right-wing states where fairness won’t come unless the federal government finally acts.

Congress and President Biden have the power to lift millions of America’s workers out of poverty and reduce social inequities by raising the federal minimum wage to $17 an hour. Urge our senators to co-sponsor this important legislation.

¹ Sanders Calls for Minimum Wage to Be Raised to at Least $17 an Hour
² Outcomes of minimum wage measures, 1996-2021

Options to Take Action:

1. Sign a letter at the Action Table on Sunday.
2. Download, sign and mail an action letter to your Members of Congress.
   Letter for California Residents                Letter for Residents of other states
3. Go to the Patriotic Millionaires Website website and participate in the action there.

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If you ever need to look up your member of the U.S. House of Representatives or your U.S. Senators check here: www.house.gov and www.senate.gov.

To find contact information for your California State Senator or California State Assemblymember check here: www.senate.ca.gov and www.assembly.ca.gov.