Commentary: Today, Congresswoman Deb Haaland (NM-01) voted to give New Mexicans a raise with the Raise the Wage Act of 2019. The bill which would raise the federal minimum wage to $15 over five years and gradually eliminate the subminimum wage for tipped workers passes the U.S. House and now moves to the U.S. Senate for consideration.
“No one who works forty hours a week should have to live in poverty, but the minimum wage has not kept up to the rising costs of living. Many families live in a reality where they have to work several low wage jobs to put food on the table. Raising the minimum wage will lift families out of poverty and has ripple effects for everyone by putting more money into the economy for people to spur economic activity,” said Congresswoman Deb Haaland who serves as Vice Chair on Families and Children Living in Poverty of the Majority Leader Task Force on Poverty and Opportunity.
The federal minimum wage is just $7.25 and has not increased since 2009. According to the Economic Policy Institute,more than 120,000 workers in New Mexico’s first Congressional District and 363,000 workers statewide would get a raise thanks to the bill. According to the Congressional Budget Office, the Raise the Wage Act would increase wages for up to 27.3 million Americans and lift 1.3 million Americans out of poverty.
The House Education and Labor Committee Fact Sheet on the Raise the Wage Act of 2019 is available here.