(CNSNews.com) – Labor Secretary Tom Perez joined lawmakers on Capitol Hill on Thursday to promote a Senate bill introduced last year by Democrats that would increase the minimum wage from $7.25 to $12 an hour by 2020, saying the legislation would “move they ball forward” toward “ensuring shared prosperity.”
“We understand that the American people need a raise and they need a raise now,” Perez said, “This $12 proposal is damned good, and it will really move the ball forward as we continue this unfinished business of ensuring shared prosperity.”
If made law, the Raise the Wage Act, introduced by Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) and Rep. Bobby Scott (D-Va.) last year, would “raise wages for nearly 38 million American workers,” a press release on the bill stated.
At the press conference, Perez expressed support for the bill but said it should ideally call for an even larger increase.
“In the ideal world, we’d like to have $15, but you know what?” Perez said. “The workers that we talk to understand that we’re not living in the ideal world.”
Perez then cited his former employer, the late Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.).
“And what I learned from Sen. Kennedy is that, you know what? Idealism and pragmatism are not mutually exclusive,” Perez said. “In order to be an effective progressive you have to understand that. Sen. Murray and Sen. (Rep.) Scott understand that and so many other Democrats here.
“We understand that the American people need a raise, and they need a raise now, and this $12 proposal is damned good, and it will really move the ball forward as we continue this unfinished business of ensuring shared prosperity,” Perez said.
The bill was introduced on April 30, 2015 and after being read twice was referred to the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions.
The minimum wage was established by the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, which was amended in 2009 to raise the minimum wage to $7.25 an hour.
(AP photo) 
