In Delaware County,
the percentage of families living in poverty has grown from 6.6 percent in 1989 to 8.9 percent in 2003. In contrast, Congress voted last month to up their own pay by another $3,300, meaning they will soon make $168,500 - more than three times the median income ($56,126) in the 7th Congressional District of Pennsylvania. Doesn't something seem wrong here?
Yesterday, Joe met with business owners, labor leaders, economists and supporters to unveil his economic plan and call for an increase in the minimum wage. But he also issued a challenge to Curt Weldon: stop hiding behind procedural votes and show real leadership. Sign the discharge petition sending a bill to increase the minimum wage to the floor for a vote.
Weldon repeatedly casts procedural votes to stall minimum wage legislation, all the while saying he supports increasing the minimum wage. He, like most career politicians, has probably seen a poll like that conducted by Pew in 2004 that indicated that 86 percent of Americans support a raise in the minimum wage. It's hard to oppose outright.
But America can't afford politicians who duck their moral obligation to ensure that hardworking Americans earning the minimum wage do not live in poverty. What we need today is leadership. America has had enough of Congress talking the talk, but not walking the walk. Weldon has a chance to show the leadership that's been absent these past 20 years by signing the discharge petitions.
A minimum wage earner working full-time all year earns just $10,712. It takes a minimum wage earner a full day of work to pay for one tank of gas. In contrast, the average CEO earns more before lunchtime than a minimum wage worker earns all year, 821 times more than a minimum wage worker. But this isn't class warfare - raising the minimum wage is the first step to broad economic growth. That's why Joe called for raising the minimum wage and laid out his five-point economic plan at the same time.
His economic plan called for:
1) Strengthening capital access and commitment to small businesses and value-added industries.
2) Driving the private-public academic partnership in order to capitalize on the presence of twelve colleges and universities and over 30,000 college and university students in the 7th District.
3) Investing in local, regional, and state economic development to spur economic growth.
4) Creating economic stimulus packages that target marginal companies.
5) Working toward "walk-able urbanity" in suburban downtown areas.
Now that's the type of leadership we need in Washington. But leadership is more effective when backed by thousands of concerned citizens. So please - join Joe's team today! Do you want to see a real minimum wage in America? Join the campaign to replace a career politician with a progressive patriot: Sign up to receive emails from Joe!
- Colin Holtz-Eakin
Sestak for Congress