A bus full of advocates in favor of a minimum wage hike made a stop in Milwaukee Monday afternoon. They’re asking Republican lawmakers to vote in favor of raising the wage to $10.10 an hour.
The Democratically-controlled U.S. Senate is set to vote on a wage hike soon. That’s why the progressive advocacy group “Americans United for Change” is on the bus tour, stopping in key states and asking Republicans to vote to raise the wage to $10.10 over the course of three years. In Wisconsin they are targeting Republican Sen. Ron Johnson and Rep. Paul Ryan.
Lauren Weiner is with the group, and spoke earlier today while the bus was on the way from Chicago to Milwaukee.
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“The Senate is getting ready to vote on raising the minimum wage, either this week or in the coming weeks, to $10.10,” she said. “We anticipate that Senator Johnson could vote for it and Congressman Ryan obviously is an influential vote in the House.”
The Milwaukee event featured a full-time fast food worker, who Weiner says is in her late fifties and is struggling to make ends meet.
“She’s relying on food stamps as well, which is what a lot of these workers do. They rely on public assistance because these wages are not enough to compensate them, even though a lot of them are working full time,” Weiner said.
“The taxpayers actually end up subsidizing a lot of these workers through food stamps, Medicaid, through other public programs,” she continued.
Senator Johnson’s office did not provide a statement on the bus tour. In the past he has stated raising the wage would kill jobs.
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