For Immediate Release
Tuesday, July 25, 2023
Patriotic Millionaires Applaud Introduction of Senator Sanders’, Congressman Scott’s $17 Minimum Wage Bill
“Workers deserve a livable wage; $17 an hour will allow them to survive, support their families, and contribute to local communities and economies.”
Washington, DC – Today, Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT), alongside labor leaders, workers, activists, and allies, introduced legislation to raise the federal minimum wage to $17 an hour.
In response, Morris Pearl, the Chair of the Patriotic Millionaires and a former managing director at BlackRock, Inc., released the following statement:
“Raising the federal wage floor is the single most efficient, effective – and wildly popular – bipartisan tool we have to deliver economic stability to working people. Moreover, doing so will strengthen and expand the economic base for businesses across the country. To preserve American democratic capitalism, we must raise the wage floor substantially and close its gaping holes. This piece of legislation is a step in the right direction.”
In response, Stephen Prince, Vice-Chair of the Patriotic Millionaires and founder of Card Marketing Services, also released the following statement:
“For years, workers have fought to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour. But while the federal minimum wage, still just $7.25 an hour, has remained unchanged for over a decade, the cost of living hasn’t. As it becomes more and more expensive to get by in America, $15 is no longer an adequate goal. We need to go higher to reflect what it actually costs to live in America. Sanders is right to revise his minimum wage push to $17 an hour to save workers across the country from further suffocation.
To my core, I am a capitalist. When I ran my own business, I paid my workers decent wages and salaries not just out of the goodness of my heart, but because of my own self-interest. When workers have more money in their pockets, they’re more productive and less likely to leave for another job. On a larger scale, raising the minimum wage would give millions of people more money to buy more products and services from businesses around the country, which is good for our bottom lines. From a business standpoint, 60% of the country living paycheck to paycheck is unsustainable and precarious. Sanders’s $17 minimum wage will change this reality and I’m all for it.”
For additional information or interview requests, please contact Emily McCloskey at emily@patrioticmillionaires.