Minimum Wage

Click on that image above and you go to a cool interactive map that let's see see the state of the minimum wage across the country. That and all the facts you'll need to convince any doubters that raising the minimum wage is an economic imperative (see below) courtesy of the Center for American Progress.

Raising the federal minimum wage is a crucial part of the Change America Now (CAN) agenda and the Democrats' 100-Hour Agenda currently being introduced in the House. Click here to see how the CAN campaign makes it easy for you to contact your member of Congress to voice your support for more increased minimum wage, affordable student loans, investment in clean energy and a sane Medicare Part D. Be sure to take a minute to let your voice be heard on Capitol Hill.

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Since 1997, the federal minimum wage has been stuck at $5.15. The new Congress plans to introduce legislation raising the minimum wage to $7.25—an increase that is long overdue.

This minimum wage increase would boost earnings for 13 million American workers—9.8 percent of the United States workforce.^1*

• Twelve million adult wage-earners, 80 percent of the minimum wage-earning population, will directly benefit from a minimum wage increase.
• Seven million families with children—46 percent of the total low wage-earning families with children—currently receive all of their earnings from minimum wage jobs.
• Nine million women (59 percent of minimum wage earners) and six million people of color (40 percent of minimum wage earners) will directly benefit from a minimum wage increase.
• Raising the minimum wage will increase annual earnings to $15,000 from $10,700. Without this increase, a family of three supported by one minimum wage earner will live roughly $5,400 below the federal poverty line.
• At the 350 largest public companies, the average CEO total direct compensation was $11.6 million in 2005. At this rate of compensation, it takes the average CEO only one hour and 55 minutes to earn the annual pay of a minimum wage worker.²

The minimum wage increase will not harm our economy.

• The minimum wage increase will not cause price inflation. In Arizona, for example, the total cost of the wage increases is equal to 0.08 percent of total sales. The average business can fully cover the cost of the minimum wage by increasing revenue by less than 0.1 percent.³
• The minimum wage increase will not destroy job growth. Between 1997 and 2003, small business employment increased by 9.4 percent in higher minimum wage states, compared to 6.6 percent in states at the federal level.⁴
• The minimum wage increase will not shut down small businesses. Between 1998 and 2003, the number of small businesses increased by 5.5 percent in higher minimum wage states, compared to 4.2 percent in states at the federal minimum wage level.⁵

Raising the minimum wage is a progressive issue that resonates with the American public and bridges the partisan divide.

• A 2006 opinion poll found that 83 percent of Americans support an increase in the federal minimum wage.⁶
• A decade of federal inaction has prompted 29 states (including D.C.) to raise the minimum wage above $5.15.
• The minimum wage is an opportunity for bipartisanship. In 2006, the governors and state legislatures of California, Michigan, and Pennsylvania worked across party lines to raise the minimum wage.
• In 2006, the minimum wage ballot initiatives had a “6-0” winning record in six states that voted for George Bush in 2000 and 2004. The minimum wage presents an issue that can unite, rather than divide, America.

Related Research

• Good for Business: Small Business Growth and State Minimum Wages
  
• Economic Analysis of the Arizona Minimum Wage Proposal
  

Endnotes

1. Economic Policy Institute, Minimum Wage Issue Guide, Jan. 2007

* These figures were updated 1/8/06

2. Annual calculation assumes a 40-hour work week and 52 weeks of work (2080 hours per year). Center for American Progress, “The Gap Between CEOs and America’s Middle Class Widened in 2005,” April 13, 2006

3. Center for American Progress, Economic Analysis of the Arizona Minimum Wage Proposal, Oct. 30, 2006

4. Center for American Progress, Good for Business, May 2006

5. Ibid.

6. Pew Research Center for the People and the Press, Maximum Support for Raising the Minimum, April 19, 2006

Thank You!

A big thank you to everyone who helped educate unmarried women in Bucks, Delaware and Chester Counties about the inportance of making their voices heard at the polls this year.

Over the last several weeks, PA Action sent nearly eighty thousand pieces of mail, made almost sixty thousand calls and knocked on over six thousand doors to get the message about Congress' Upside Down Priorities to women voters in three important counties.

The atmosphere at the PA Action office in Bristol was one of commitment and dedication to reaching as many voters as possible in the busy weeks leading up to the election. On the phones and at the doors we came across more than a few voters, who were tired of being bombarded with partisan messages but who responded well to our non-partisan message of "Just Get Out and Vote." And, thanks in large part to our work, many thousands of voters did get out to vote on the important issues of clean energy, affordable health care, accessible education, war and peace.

Every accomplisment would have been impossible without the help of energized staff and volunteers on the phones and the doors from the middle of October all the way up until half an hour before the polls closed on the 7th. For an excellent look at the work we did, be sure to watch this FOX 29 piece called "Reaching Out to Non-Voters."

PA Action will continue to spread a message of economic justice, peace and prosperity in the months and years ahead. If you're in the neighborhood, please come to the first post-election organizational meeting, which will be held on Tuesday, November 14 at 7:00pm at PA Action's office at 1631 Edgely Road in Levittown. Bring your ideas and your energy. Be part of a revolution just begun.

Calling Bucks, Chester and Delaware County Voters with Pop Vox

PA Action, in conjunction with Women's Voices Women's Votes and US Action, is working a non-partisan campaign on the phones and on the ground to turnout likely progressive female voters this election.

As Matt said at MyDD:

Right-wingers have two giant fears. The first is if evangelicals stop voting, as they
did from the 1920s until the late 1970s. The second is if single women
start voting.

That second part is our plan and you can help from the comfort and convenience of your home. We need 375 people to make two hours of calls. Calling has been averaging at about 80 calls per hour. If we can get 375 people to make two hours of calls through Pop Vox, that will free up 750 hours for our volunteers on the ground to make the important face-to-face contacts
that are also part of the field plan.

Trust me, the two hours go by more quickly than you may imagine. You don't have to do them in a row, although we would prefer it. The script is short and direct. The focus voters are people we need to get to the polls if we want to see some change in the direction this country.

Thanks very much for spending a couple of hours helping to get this country back on track.

Here's what you do:

1. Please remember that this calling is non-partisan.

We aren't encouraging anyone to vote for any candidate in particular.
Please don't mention any candidate's or incumbent's name. We are
working on turning out women who are likely progressive voters.

2. Go to PA Action's page at Pop Vox.

3. Register

Please enter an email address. You will receive a confirmation of registration at your email address but you don't need to do anything with it to makecalls.

Also, please agree to be recorded. It's for quality control purposes. The voter's portion of the call is not recorded.

4. Login

After you register, you will be able to login with all the information you entered at the
registration screen.

5. When you are ready to make calls, click on the Make Calls Now link.

6. Select a campaign. You can choose among Bucks, Chester and Delaware Counties.

7. Click MAKE CALLS

8. Enter the phone number you are calling from. Do not include any spaces between the digits.

The system will call you back at that number. From the time you answer, you don't need to dial or hang up the phone again. The Pop Vox program will automatically hang up and redial. If you hang up, you will be disconnected and have to sign in all over again.

9. Your phone will ring. When you answer it, you'll hear music until you click Ready for Call.
Then Pop Vox will look for a voter for you to talk to. A gray wheel will spin while Pop Vox is looking for a voter. Please be ready to go as soon as you hear the beep otherwise there's an annoying delay on the voter's end.

10. When you get a voter:

a. If the voter is home: read the script and get the answer to the question, which is: Do you plan to vote on November 7?

b. If the voter is not home: tell whoever answers that we are encouraging her to vote on November 7 and that we will call back

c. If you get an answering machine: hit the PLAY RECORDING button.

Then: SAVE CALL, NEXT CALL, READY FOR CALL

Pop Vox will take care of all the other record keeping for answering machines.

11. To end the call: Do not hang up the phone! Click "End Call."

12. Fill out the response fields. They are easy to understand. Use the drop-down menus to see your options.

If you spoke to someone who is not the voter, choose "WILL CALL BACK."

If you forgot to hit PLAY RECORDING and read the script into an answering machine, choose "LEFT MESSAGE."

13. Click "Save Call."

14. Click "New Call."

15. Click "Ready for Call" and the whole process starts over again.

Help Bring Real Change to the Philly Suburbs

PA Action, working with Women's Voices Women's Votes and US Action, is working a non-partisan campaign on the phones and on the ground to turnout likely progressive female voters this election. You've probably read about WVWV over at MyDD. As Matt said in that post:

Right-wingers have two giant fears. The first is if evangelicals stop voting, as they did from the 1920s until the late 1970s. The second is if single women start voting.

That second part is our plan and you can help from the comfort and convenience of your home. We need four hundred people to each call one hundred names on our list. That's about two hours of work per person. Trust me, it goes by more quickly than you may imagine. The script is short and direct. The focus voters are people we need to get to the polls if we want to see some change in the direction this country.

Please make the jump and find out how you can spend a couple of hours helping to get this country back on track.

Thanks!

Here's what you do:

1. Please remember that this calling is non-partisan. We aren't encouraging anyone to vote for any candidate in particular. We are working on turning out women who are likely progressive voters.

2. Go to PA Action's page at Pop Vox.

3. Register to make calls.

4. Login

5. When you are ready to make calls, click on the Make Calls
link.

6. Select a campaign. You can choose between Bucks and
Delaware Counties.

7. Click MAKE CALLS

8. Enter the phone number you are calling from. The system will call you and from the time you answer, you don't need to touch the phone again. In fact, I hooked up an earpiece because I kept hanging up after I talked to voters, which disconnected me from the system - no good. It's a hard habit to break if the phone is in your hand.

9. Your phone will ring. when you answer it, you'll hear music until you click "Ready for Call." Then Pop Vox will look for a voter for you to talk to. Please be ready to go as soon as you hear the beep otherwise there's an annoying delay on the voter's end.

10. When you get a voter, read the script and get the answer to the question, which is: Do you plan to vote on November 7?

11. Do not hang up the phone! Click "End Call."

12. Fill out the response fields.

13. Click "Save Call."

14. Click "New Call."

15. Click "Ready for Call" and the whole process starts over again.

Two hours. 100 voters. Help bring real change to southeastern PA and the country.

PA Action Opens Community Office and Rolls Out Invest in America's Future Agenda

PA Action's community office opened today with a press conference and roll out of the Invest in America's Future Agenda.

Speakers included John Jordan, Chairman of the NAACP; Judy Gordon, local health care expert; Chuck Pennacchio, former PA Dem Sen candidate who spoke about the need for investment in Clean Energy; and Craig Kaufman, co-director of PA Action. Craig spoke about the context of this work and PA Action's committment to progressive values not only in word but in deed:

We are absolutely committed to manifesting progressive values. And we're going to manifest them by having this kind of a space. If we have to have flea markets outside, or if we have to have community events, AA meetings, ... whoever wants to be here because they want to do something better with themselves, their community, with their country, we're going to get them here. We're going to give them a platform to come here. We're going to give them a red carpet to get here because we want that, we need that.

We are all tired of politics as usual. ... And at the end of the day, like John Jordan said, anyone who does that, who doesn't walk in the right direction, we're going to hold their feet to the fire. We're going to pull them over and we're going to get someone else to walk with us because this is the way it's got to be done.

There's been a lot of talk about how to work with people. We're offering people a space and an idea and some issues and some resources. And we're absolutely committed to that being a vista from which they can jump into their dreams.

Social Security Preservation Rally in Harrisburg

That's a photo from today's PA Action Social Security preservation rally held outside Sen. Santorum's Harrisburg office. Jeff Garis, Craig Kaufman, Chuck Pennacchio and two dozen interested citizens of all ages were in Harrisburg today to remind everyone within earshot - and eyeshot of the giant gorilla - that Social Security is still very much at risk. From the press release:

“Social Security privatization schemes are the ‘800 lb. gorilla in the room,’” noted PA Action spokesperson Jeff Garis. PA Action’s Communications Director Chuck Pennacchio of Plumsteadville added, “The President has been trying to privatize this proud program since he ran for Congress in the 1970s. This is an organized attack, a well-planned cynical attack by radical extremists. We are here to celebrate Social Security – and to stand up for it.”

Sharon Shope of York county, there with her two children, said, “Our president has declared, ‘now is the time’ to privatize Social Security. And that’s simply not fair and not right.”

PA Action’s Craig Kaufman of Levittown stated, “This effort is being orchestrated by our own senator, and Pennsylvania won’t stand for that. They can say no to our cake, but they can’t say no to the truth of our message.” PA Action is a state affiliate of US Action and national partner of Americans United, the group which led the fight to beat back the Bush-privatization proposal in 2005.

And in case you forgot why Senator Santorum needs to hear from his constituents about this issue:

SEN. SANTORUM’S PRO-PRIVATIZATION RECORD:

• Senator Santorum is a co-sponsor of S 1302, the bill that would use the Social Security surplus to help fund private accounts. [S 1302, 6/23/05] Senator Santorum voted for the DeMint amendment, which would have directed the creation of a reserve fund for Social Security, but only after the Senate produced legislation allowing younger workers to divert a portion of their Social Security taxes into personal investment accounts or permitting some other type of "legally binding ownership" of a worker's Social Security money. [S Amdt 3087 to S Con Res 83, Vote # 68, 3/16/06]

Senator Santorum voted against an amendment that called on the Senate to "reject any Social Security plan that requires deep benefit cuts or a massive increase in debt.” The amendment failed 50-50. [S. Con Res 18, Vote #49, 3/15/05]

Rick Santorum Social Security Grinch

PA Action held a Social Security Anniversary event outside Sen. Santorum's Harrisburg office today. Rick Santorum's office staff refused even to accept a cake celebrating the 71st anniversary of the most successful government economic program in American history. Can you imagine that? Everyone likes cake. And according to the new GOP party line, everyone loves Social Security. The word from the Republican leadership released for public consumption is that Social Security isn't a big issue in Washington. Even John Boehner is on the Social Security preservation trolley.

This is from a television news item about John Boehner, who traveled to upstate NY to stump for a local congressional candidate, Ray Meier:

While Meier and Boehner were speaking, a protest
was underway outside. The group fears both men support privatizing
Social Security. Meier and Boehner, denied the claim. Business leaders
in Cortland County had breakfast with the House Majority Leader.

How in the world would people get the idea that Boehner, who now says that he is opposed to privatization, in reality supports it? Maybe from this:

Boehner Pledges To Privatize Social Security: ‘We’re Going to Get Serious About This

In an interview with the Washington Times published yesterday, House Majority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) promised to privatize Social Security:

Q: Where does Social Security reform stand?

A: I just met with Congressman [Frank R. Wolf, Virginia Republican],
a few minutes ago with his SAFE Commission [formed to fix the
entitlement programs]. In 1990 when I first ran for Congress, I talked
about the need to reform these big entitlement programs because the
sooner we began the process, the easier it would be to make the
necessary changes so that these programs were sustainable for the long
term. … If I’m around in a leadership role come January, we’re going to get serious about this.

Citizen action groups working to preserve Social Security are reporting from all around the country that their previously-supportive-of-the-destruction-of-Social-Security Republican legislators are flip flopping all over the place on this. Josh Marshall wrote about the wordgames they're playing here. It seems that "I am opposed to privatization" doesn't mean what anyone who speaks English thinks it does.

If your senator or congressperson is coming out against privatization now, be sure to find out exactly what s/he means when she says that. It might not mean what you think it does.

Medicare D-Day a Huge Success!

Here's the press release:

Pennsylvania Action, Local Seniors, Disabled Pennsylvanians Organize Largest Lobby Day Event in County Memory, Only to be Stood Up by Absent Congressman

Over sixty concerned Bucks County residents lobby Rep. Fitzpatrick to fix the fatally flawed Medicare Part D so that it will be simple, affordable and guaranteed, only to see an attempt to pass the buck to Gov. Rendell

Langhorne, PA – Over sixty local seniors and supporters of senior issues braved the heat early this morning for a long-announced meeting with US Rep. Michael Fitzpatrick, only to find the congressman had failed to show up for his own weekly open office hours (although he found time shortly after that to attend the nearby Newportville picnic). PA Action congratulated the teeming crowd, having organized the event to convince Rep. Fitzpatrick to sign a pledge to make five specific fixes to the fatally flawed Part D prescription drug program so that it is simple, affordable and guaranteed for Pennsylvania seniors and the disabled (see below).

"We have an absent Congressman, who has proven himself to be in lockstep with an absent Congress notable only for the immoral legislation it dumps onto middle class Americans," PA Action spokesperson and Levittown resident Craig Kaufman told those assembled.

"Actions speak louder than words, and here's a diverse group of people afraid of a bill that's an attack on my family and yours. I've talked to Rep. Fitzpatrick's staff too many times. I'm tired of it," lamented Levittown senior and veterans' rights activist John Macauley. A Fitzpatrick staff member admitted Fitzpatrick was in the district and that the staff had known about this lobby visit for weeks, notably with it having appeared in a local daily newspaper.

Many of the assembled stated that the lesson of the day was that seniors and their concerns don't count. Sue DeRosier of Bristol Township said that she wanted to tell the congressman that she is concerned about the future. "I have good coverage now but ten years from now I won't and I'm concerned that I won't be able to afford to get it."

Fitzpatrick District Manager Bill Garrett, added to the confusion by unfavorably comparing Medicare Part D to health plans he has personally had. He acknowledged that Medicare Part D needed reform.

The group, waiting respectfully for over half an hour until Garrett came out, refused to be daunted, listening to a minister and other retirees' stories of their families' frustrations with Medicare Part D. Those problems range from falling into the donut hole, to unavailable medications, to confusion as to why the government is forbidden by Part D law to negotiate for lower prices from the pharmaceutical industry.

Lower Makefield resident, Robin Stelly, a field organizer for PA Action, told the crowd, "Although the congressman has chosen to skip his advertised Saturday office hours -after having been here the past two Saturdays and every Saturday as far as we know- we the citizens, the people who matter most, have made clear to one another the sad state of health care in the world's most powerful nation."

Adding insult to the injury of Rep. Fitzpatrick's absence was Garrett's inability to answer questions about the pledge, claiming to be uninformed about those issues. Jeff Garis of PA Action asked the seniors and their allies how it could be that with an annual budget of over a million dollars, the congressman and his staff could not provide a simple yes or no answer about the pledge - let alone to have called or emailed PA Action so that they could have saved the seniors a frustrating trip. PA Action's main focus in Bucks County has been to work with the congressman to get him to sign the pledge. The pledge has been hand delivered numerous times to the congressman as well as via email.

On the other hand, nearly everyone present at today's event eagerly signed 'Citizen's Pledges,' promising to use their time and energy to work for the aforementioned five fixes to Medicare Part D.

Many of the seniors, some of whom were disabled, left in disgust. "We gave him a chance, and the privilege of hearing from us," according to Macauley.

Particularly angering was the Fitzpatrick office's continuing insistence on how it was Governor Rendell's responsibility to fix the legislation, though Garrett acknowledged that after nearly a month of regular requests from PA Action he still had not sent any actual information about this. Kaufman countered, "Anyway, we care about all Americans. And while PA has reasonable social programs, Representative Fitzpatrick's passing the buck in Bucks wouldn't help the many American seniors who live in adversely affected states." (For example the percentage of uninsured in Texas is 25.1% as compared to Pennsylvania, which stands at 11.5% uninsured.)

Stelly also retorted to Garrett, "I already called all around trying to get answers to the questions you couldn't answer about state issues. One official finally just told me that maybe Rep. Fitzpatrick should consider pursuing a state office himself."

Kaufman thanked the group and closed by stating, "May 15th marked the last opportunity this year for seniors to sign up for the Part D prescription drug program. Thousands right here in Pennsylvania now find themselves locked out of the program, many of whom were simply too frustrated and confused with the prospect of choosing between dozens of private insurance plans – all with confusingly different co-pays, covered drug lists and premiums. Thousands more will soon fall into the Part D 'Donut Hole' trap where they will be rewarded with no coverage whatsoever, yet will still be forced to pay their costly monthly premiums. Few will escape this massive coverage gap, which could have dire health consequences for those who simply take their chances without their medications. If our absent congressman can't agree to simple, common sense reforms to Part D, then all of us will keep reminding him.”

------
PLEDGE:

PA Action Called on Congressman Fitzpatrick to support the following fixes to Part D:
-Reduce the cost of prescription drugs by requiring Medicare to negotiate lower prices from drug companies;
-Close the "donut hole" referring to the gap in coverage for annual costs between $2250 and $5100, which will result in millions of seniors being denied coverage each year while they still pay monthly premiums;
-Allow seniors the choice of obtaining their prescription drug plan directly from Medicare instead of from a private insurance company;
-Re-open Part D enrollment and waive the late enrollment penalty until Part D is fixed.

Tomorrow is the Day!

Tomorrow is Medicare D-Day on Medicare's B-Day

We'll be lobbying Congressman Fitzpatrick to make simple, sensible fixes to
the broken, confusing and crony-driven Medicare Part D.

Remember, according to Gail Wilensky, PhD, a health analysts with Project HOPE, a former Medicare administrator, who also advised President Bush during the 2000 presidential campaign, we are pursuing the wisest course of action:

"If you are caught in that donut hole you will be disappointed and start pressing your members of Congress to do something about it."


Join us on tomorrow to ask Congressman Fitzpatrick to make the following
simple and sensible fixes to Medicare Part D:

* Require that Medicare negotiate the cheapest possible prices for drugs
with the pharmaceutical companies;
* Eliminate the "Donut Hole" that will add crippling costs to many
seniors;
* Offer a prescription drug plan to seniors directly through Medicare
that does not require they join private plans;
* End the "bait and switch" provisions that allow private insurance
plans to drop coverage for specific drugs while seniors are locked into
the plan;
* Reopen an enrollment period so that millions of seniors will not be
locked out of help for prescription drug costs -- and drop the penalty
for joining after May 15.

PLEASE RSVP here to make the commitment to come out on the 29th. We'll be lobbying Rep. Fitzpatrick for real reform of Part D as well as celebrating Medicare's 41st birthday and our democracy.

What: Medicare D-Day on Medicare's B-Day
When: 9:15am Saturday, JULY 29
Where: Oxford Valley Mall - we'll gather on the side that faces the JC
Penney parking lot
Why: to lobby Congressman Fitzpatrick to fix Medicare's Prescription
drug benefit

Fix Medicare Part D now!
Join us at D-Day for Medicare's B-Day. July 29th at Rep. Fitzpatrick's
Langhorne office. Call 267-240-9819 for info.