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A project of Common Dreams

For Immediate Release
Contact:

Sam Quigley, sam@patrioticmillionaires.org

 

Patriotic Millionaires Applaud Biden Executive Order to Raise the Minimum Wage for Federal Contract Workers to $15 an Hour

"We look forward to continuing to work with the Biden administration as it fights to pass a $15 federal minimum wage through the US Senate, using every means necessary."

WASHINGTON

Today, President Biden is issuing an executive order requiring federal contractors to pay a $15 minimum wage to all of their employees by 2022, up from the current required minimum of $10.95 per hour. In response to this order, which will also continue to index the wage to inflation and would, critically, eliminate the tipped minimum wage for federal contract workers, Morris Pearl, former managing director at Blackrock, Inc., Chair of the Patriotic Millionaires, and co-author of Tax the Rich!, issued the following statement:

"Today's executive order is an important step in the right direction, but it's nowhere near enough. The Biden administration should be commended for ensuring hundreds of thousands of contract workers will finally earn a liveable wage, but it cannot rest while there are tens of millions of Americans who are not earning enough to be a part of our economy or our society. A national $15 minimum wage must remain a top legislative priority for the Biden administration and Congressional Democrats. We look forward to continuing to work with the Biden administration as it fights to pass a $15 federal minimum wage through the US Senate, using every means necessary."

The Patriotic Millionaires is a group of high-net worth Americans who share a profound concern about the destabilizing level of inequality in America. Our work centers on the two things that matter most in a capitalist democracy: power and money. Our goal is to ensure that the country's political economy is structured to meet the needs of regular Americans, rather than just millionaires. We focus on three "first" principles: a highly progressive tax system, a livable minimum wage, and equal political representation for all citizens.

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