Obama to sign executive order raising minimum wage for federal contractors
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Obama to sign executive order raising minimum wage for federal contractors
Published January 28, 2014
FoxNews.com
FILE:Jan. 23, 2014: President Obama in the East Room of the White House in Washington, D.C.AP
President Obama, in the first of potentially many executive actions tied to his State of the Union address, will unilaterally increase the minimum wage for workers under new federal contracts to $10.10 an hour, from $7.25, in an effort to build momentum for a minimum wage hike for all Americans.
The executive order, which had been pushed by progressive Democratic lawmakers, applies to all contractors performing services for the federal government and would affect more than 2 million employees, according to an administration official.
The president will then use Tuesday night's address to press Congress to pass a Democratic plan to increase the overall federal wage to $10.10 over three years, then indexing it to inflation, while also raising the minimum wage for tipped workers, the official said.
Critics of the minimum wage push claim that raising the rate could have an adverse effect, discouraging businesses from hiring more workers at a time when the government is trying to spur job growth.
"The minimum wage is mostly an entry level wage for young people," Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell told "Fox News Sunday." "We have a crisis in employment among young people right now, and generation 18 to 30, people that got out of college, are finding there are no jobs for them. The last thing we want to do is have even fewer jobs for younger people."
But the president is reviving the issue as he tries to focus again on the economy. Obama, who does not have the power to unilaterally raise the minimum wage for private sector workers, also used last year's State of the Union speech to call for a federal minimum wage hike.
“Let’s declare that in the wealthiest nation on Earth, no one who works full-time should have to live in poverty and raise the federal minimum wage to $9 an hour,” the president said to applause in his 2013 address.
The new executive order affects only future contracts, not existing ones, and would only apply to contract renewals if other terms of the agreement changed. As a result, the order would benefit far fewer workers than the number foreseen by advocates of federal contract employees.
In December, Reps. Keith Ellison, D-Minn., and Raul Grijalva, D-Ariz., co-chairmen of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, wrote the president urging him to take the "bold step" of signing an executive order to increase wages for federal contractors, GovExec.com reported.
At the time, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney issued a lukewarm response when asked about the lawmakers' request, according to the report.
“This has always been done legislatively. And it has been done with support from Republicans and not just Democrats in the past,” Carney said.
Obama, in an effort to avoid the appearance of being a lame duck president, is expected to use Tuesday's State of the Union address to make clear his intentions to use his executive powers to achieve his goals when Congress fails to pass legislation.
Minimum wage is a perennial issue that has taken on a higher profile amid the slowly recovering economy and growing public debate about income inequality. A Quinnipiac University poll this month found 71 percent of Americans in favor of raising the minimum wage — including more than half of Republicans polled.
Five states passed minimum wage measures last year, and advocates hope that number will grow as states from New Hampshire to Washington consider proposals. Many would push families above the federal poverty line, which is $15,730 for a family of two. In Iowa, a bill would hike the minimum wage from $7.25 an hour to $10.10.
Democrats across the political spectrum have lobbied for a higher minimum wage this year, after Obama got the ball rolling on the issue by calling for an increase in his February budget speech. Since then, union-organized demonstrations in front of profitable mega-chains such as Wal-Mart and McDonald's have kept it in the public eye.
Fox News' Ed Henry and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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You would think that most if not all federal workers would already be making more than minimum considering the amount of background checks they would need.
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This is for contract workers. Not the federal workers. For instance the people who work in the cafeteria who work for Marriott in the Federal building, etc.
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You would still think they would require a through background check,.... but honestly raising the minimum wage in a global economy hurts more than it helps. As long as employers can ship jobs to china(or wherever they are shipping them today) so they only pay them 1/10th of what they would have to in the US.
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I think the minimum wage has fucked up more things than its helped. I'm also going to puke if I have to hear the cliche that you can't support a family on one person's minimum wage salary. No shit.
WSS
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Of course it's a smart political ploy for Obama. I would imagine that a great deal of his constituents are too stupid and or lazy to actually earn more than minimum wage...
WSS
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Overall it has helped more than hurt looking historically, the only problem is too often the dems have brought it up as a trump card, specially when things are not going their way. Just raising wages does nothing, it actually arguably hurts more since companies are not going to just pay the wage, they are going to push the cost to the consumer causing higher prices.
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I wouldn't care so much, except that we're already heading towards 20 TRILLION bucks in debt.
This moron president keeps doing it, finding reasons to push us into a debt crisis...
say, what a great time to bring up Cloward-Piven !
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Overall it has helped more than hurt looking historically, the only problem is too often the dems have brought it up as a trump card, specially when things are not going their way. Just raising wages does nothing, it actually arguably hurts more since companies are not going to just pay the wage, they are going to push the cost to the consumer causing higher prices.
What makes even more sense is eliminating a few of those positions and focusing more on getting more production out of fewer people.Overall it has helped more than hurt looking historically, the only problem is too often the dems have brought it up as a trump card, specially when things are not going their way. Just raising wages does nothing, it actually arguably hurts more since companies are not going to just pay the wage, they are going to push the cost to the consumer causing higher prices.
Also I think many people buy into that fairy tale scenario in which corporations are forcing people to work 20 hours a day for 4 dollars an hour. We haven't been in any sort of buyer's market for jobs in many decades. Even during the Depression Roosevelt put a cap on wages. Why? Because good workers have value and companies might get forced into a bidding war.
The minimum wage is not, nor has it ever been, intended to support an entire family. And as the age old argument goes why not raise it to $35? Then everyone is living well.
Shitty wages are for shitty jobs that basically any idiot can do and those wages should provide incentive to do better.
WSS
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So the raise will affect more than 2 million people but in 6 months will only apply to what, 1.5 million do to the employers doing more with less? Fucking brilliant if ya ask me. Just what we need, more people that had no desire to do a damn thing to improve themselves after the age of 16 ending up on the dole.
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