Most Liberal In Congress Set To Renew Job-Destroying Push

Bloomberg reported this afternoon that a cadre of Congress’ most left-wing lawmakers are set to unveil a push to increase the minimum wage to $15 an hour, despite the fact that this push would eliminate millions of jobs.

April 24, 2017

Bloomberg reported this afternoon that a cadre of Congress’ most left-wing lawmakers are set to unveil a push to increase the minimum wage to $15 an hour, despite the fact that this effort would eliminate millions of jobs.

Bernie Sanders, Sen. Murray, Keith Ellison, Bobby Scott, Raul Grijalva et al will unveil bill Wednesday to raise minimum wage to $15 by 2024

— Josh Eidelson (@josheidelson) April 24, 2017

It’s clear that this is simply a partisan stunt and even these elected officials would concede that their outlandish proposal stands zero chance of passing. On top of the fact that a federal $15 minimum wage would destroy an estimated 7 million jobs, even leading Democrat policymakers have conceded that the idea has many flaws.

This really is a chance for these unabashed left-wingers to try to curry favor with the big labor groups that dump millions of union-members’ dues into their campaign accounts. Just look at how much these five sponsors of the bill have raked in from big unions during their careers:

Big labor bosses want a $15 minimum wage so that they can acquire even more dues-paying members and donate their money towards pet liberal causes or politicians. In fact, a report last week detailed that unions dumped $1.7 billion, mostly money that had been paid to them in dues, into the 2016 election. Now, they are seeking a return on their investment by having these elected officials carry their water with this deeply flawed legislation.

Instead of wasting everyone’s time with cheap political theater tactics, these lawmakers would be wise to put partisanship aside and focus on common sense ways to help American workers advance through means other than artificial government mandates.