The Democratic women senators just stood together at an amazing event where we delivered a very important message: No American woman should ever work a full-time job and still raise her children in poverty.
Yet at a time when 400 American families have more wealth than 150 million, an American single mom earning minimum wage at a full-time job takes home just $15,000 a year to support her family -- below the poverty line.
It's just not right, and we've got to do something about it.
That's why the Democratic women of the Senate have joined together to say: It is time to raise the minimum wage!
Raising the minimum wage will help millions of hard-working families -- but it will especially help 15 million American women.
- After all, American women represent two-thirds of all workers earning the minimum wage.
- American women are the main breadwinners, or joint breadwinners, in two-thirds of the families across the country.
- And American women are two-thirds of tipped workers.
Let me be clear: Raising the minimum wage isn't a job killer; it's an economy booster. Economists predict that raising the minimum wage will add $22 billion to America's GDP while creating 84,000 new jobs.
That's because when you raise the minimum wage, you help more families earn more income that they can save and spend. That's good for businesses all across the country that sell more goods and services. And when businesses sell more goods and services, they hire more workers.
It's a virtuous cycle that helps women, that helps families, and that helps our country.
We are so pleased that President Obama made raising the minimum wage a centerpiece of his State of the Union address on Tuesday -- and now it's up to Congress to heed his call.
It's not rocket science: If you work hard and play by the rules, you should be able to provide for your family and have an opportunity to get ahead.
Now let's make that happen.
Barbara Boxer, U.S. Senator
Tammy Baldwin, U.S. Senator
Kirsten Gillibrand, U.S. Senator
Mazie Hirono, U.S. Senator
Patty Murray, U.S. Senator
Elizabeth Warren, U.S. Senator
Tammy Baldwin, U.S. Senator
Kirsten Gillibrand, U.S. Senator
Mazie Hirono, U.S. Senator
Patty Murray, U.S. Senator
Elizabeth Warren, U.S. Senator
I'm going to go out on a limb here. What if we voted so that there would be 51 percent women in Congress and a woman in the White House? 51 percent of our population is female and in order to have fair representation in government, we need to up the percentage of women in our legislature. Considering what a mess the guys, that are serving now, have made of our laws and system of governing I think we should give the ladies a shot at correcting it. I'm not saying that we should elect all liberal women because if you look at congressional women today, they are getting together and finding consensus on their own, working behind the scenes, working with each other, working toward resolving problems. It is good to have opposing ideas in order to get the best out of our Democracy. Time we gave a voting nod to the feminine side.
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