$7.25 is an insult.

Yesterday, we took time to recognize and celebrate our workers, the backbone of our country.

Today, we must redouble our efforts to deliver on our debt to them by finally raising the minimum wage.

For more than a decade, the federal minimum wage has been stuck at $7.25 per hour.

$7.25 an hour. It isn't just an insult to millions of hard-working Americans who work day and night to create a better life for their families — it simply doesn't make sense for them financially.

There's nowhere in America where someone can support a family on $7.25 per hour. And the pandemic has only crystalized the abject poverty that so many Americans are forced to live in because our wages are beyond outdated.

It's time to put the days of working families having to work two and three jobs just to make ends meet behind us.

I'm proud to support important federal legislation to raise the wage to at least $15 per hour.

We can and must pay American workers fairly.

Raising the federal minimum wage from poverty levels is an important start, and we will continue fighting for this legislation until we get the job done.

Courage.

Earl