Pennsylvania’s Democratic-controlled House of Representatives approved a measure by a close vote Tuesday that would raise the minimum wage to $15 by 2026, fulfilling a long-held party campaign plank that has run up against Republican legislative majorities for years.
The bill passed 103-100 with all but one Democrat voting for it and two Republicans joining them. But it has an uncertain future in the Republican-controlled Senate as lawmakers and Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro increasingly focus on budget legislation ahead of the July 1 start of the new fiscal year.
Pennsylvania’s minimum wage is set at the federal minimum of $7.25, and last increased in 2009.
The measure would gradually increase the minimum wage to $15 by changing from $7.25 to $11 in its first year, then to $13 in 2025 and finally to $15 in 2026. The bill ties future increases to inflation, which sponsors say mirrors action taken by 15 other states.
The legislation would also increase the tipped wage to 60% of the minimum wage from the current $2.83 an hour. The movement comes after Democrats won a House majority for the first time in a dozen years, albeit by one seat.
It’s been a yearslong effort for Democrats, who have campaigned on increasing the minimum wage nationally.
Rep. Justin Fleming, a Dauphin County Democrat, said it was one of his priorities as a candidate. He recalled working for a former Democratic governor when the Legislature last increased the minimum wage.
“If you had told me that it would be 14 years before this body would take another stab to raise the minimum wage, I simply wouldn’t have believed it,” he said. “Passing this bill will keep workers who live close to our borders here in the state and patronizing Pennsylvania businesses.”
Republicans emphasized concerns for small businesses and rising costs associated with raising the wage.
“I cannot support a bill that would put a local family restaurant out of business and, along with it, the many employees who make a living at their three locations,” said Rep. Katie Klunk, a York County Republican.
For some Democrats, the effort didn’t extend far enough.
“An African proverb says, ‘When elephants fight, it is the grass that suffers,’” said Dauphin County Democratic Rep. Patty Kim. “Even if we raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour, the grass still suffers. I support this bill because this is a piece to a larger puzzle that will help working families.”
Shapiro campaigned last year for a $15 minimum wage and, in his first budget address, he asked for the increase. Republican opposition stymied efforts by former Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf through his eight years in office to raise the minimum wage.
Wolf imposed higher wage requirements on companies getting loans, grants or tax breaks from the state government through an executive order in 2021. He did the same to state contractors in 2016.
All told, 30 other states and Washington, D.C., have raised the minimum wage above the federal minimum, including some Republican-controlled states, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Every neighbor of Pennsylvania also has raised the minimum wage, although Ohio’s law exempts lower-earning businesses and employees under 16.
June is budget month in Pennsylvania’s Legislature and often a time for deal-making on pet policy priorities between governors and top lawmakers.
Senate Majority Leader Joe Pittman, R-Indiana, said last week that his caucus would wait for the House to pass a minimum wage bill to consider it. However, he said, “$15 an hour is not a practical number” for Republicans in that chamber to consider.
In a deal with Wolf in 2019, the Senate agreed to raise Pennsylvania’s minimum wage in four steps to $9.50 in 2022, but the House’s Republican majority blocked it.
impulse: harder better faster stronger by daft punk, pascualita by the derevolutions
tango: goodtek by ebimayo, loose the goose by lucas pittman, topsy at the top by martin landstrom, maelstrom by tut tut child
pearl: doo dat wah by jules gaia, i look to you by miami horror, you can't dance to dreams by windom earle
scar: agua de beber by the derevolutions, bad connection by the derevolutions, bad king kong by the derevolutions, get 'em up by the derevolutions, push it back by the derevolutions, quality control by the derevolutions, running from the sun by the derevolutions, weird girl by the derevolutions, my trains by lemon demon
bdubs: it's a derevolution baby by the derevolutions (song not album), the problem with you by the derevolutions
cub: automate your soul by the derevolutions
doc: better day by planet booty
false: creatures of the night by the derevolutions
grian: linger longer by cosmo sheldrake, little soldiers by the crane wives, sleeping giants by the crane wives, beyond by daft punk, back it up (bad king kong) by the derevolutions, bad king kong by the derevolutions, my earth life by the derevolutions, revive it by the derevolutions, running from the sun by the derevolutions, weird girl by the derevolutions, far away by red vox
hypno: memories lie by red vox
jevin: moshi by pegboard nerds
joe: weird girl by the derevolutions, hope for the flowers by rich aucoin, the other by rich aucoin, walls by rich aucoin, lay your head down and dream by sean hills
keralis: dancing queen by abba, icq by twrp
mumbo: my earth life by the derevolutions
ren: treat my body right by planet booty
stress: pumpkin pie by the derevolutions, push it back by the derevolutions, otherside by lena raine
beef: safe and sound by capital cities, order and progress by the derevolutions
wels: living in the not world by the derevolutions
xb: about a girl by the derevolutions
xisuma: beyond by daft punk, invader by dance with the dead, animate your life by the derevolutions, parisian eyes by the hylozoists, champion zone by lord phobos, legendary space knight by lord phobos, the device pt. 1 by twrp, the device pt. 2 by twrp, time to shine by twrp
zedaph: get 'em up by the derevolutions, blue zones by the fly guy five, everyday lightning by planet booty
cleo: death by misery by the derevolutions, weird girl by the derevolutions, don't be on with her by miami horror, hope for the flowers by rich aucoin, undead pt. 1 - estrangement by rich aucoin, undead pt. 2 - reconciliation by rich aucoin, food bar by twrp
Oh my god it's been so long since we had a suggestion list like this!! Thank you for all these suggestions, they have all been added to their respective playlists, though I won't link them all here because woag thatd be a lotta links. There's a page for it if you're on desktop tho! if you're on mobile you can search Hermitcraft Playlists on spotify and you should find em :)
United Strike Back - Gogol Bordello Feat. Tre Cool (Green Day), Jello Biafra (Dead Kennedys), Joe Lally (Fugazi, The Messthetics), Roger Miret (Agnostic Front), Monte Pittman (Ministry), Sasha (Kazka) & Puzzled Panther
“Punk and hardcore is always there to show support to a friend in trouble. Especially when [it’s the] entire nation,” said Gogol Bordello frontman Eugene Hütz in a statement. “Here, living legends of punk and hardcore who always meant so much to me, come together to show their much needed support for Ukrainian freedom fighters.”
All proceeds from “United Strike Back” will go to Kind Deeds, a charitable organization helping wounded Ukrainian soldiers regain mobility with prosthetics and rehabilitation.
Feb. 27 (UPI) -- The White House is expected to face tough questioning from the conservative-leaning Supreme Court with President Joe Biden's $400 billion student loan forgiveness plan gets questioned by justices this week.
The White House on Tuesday will argue in front of the Supreme Court that Education Secretary Miguel Cardona can implement the plan under the 9/11-era Higher Education Relief Opportunities for Students, or HEROES, Act.
The high court will hold hearings on two cases: Biden vs. Nebraska and Department of Education vs. Brown.
The high court agreed to hear oral arguments in December after the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans refused to end a ruling by U. S. District Judge Mark Pittman in Texas stating Biden's unilateral effort to cancel student debt was illegal.
RELATED More than half nation's school districts face teacher shortages, data show
Biden's plan is an offshoot of the Trump administration's plan to pause student loan payments after declaring the coronavirus pandemic a national emergency in 2020.
The debt relief plan would grant as much as $10,000 in loan forgiveness for people making less than $125,000 annually and up to $20,000 for Pell grant recipients. Attacks on the plans, led by Republicans, have argued that only Congress has the authority over such efforts.
Earlier this month, 43 Senate Republicans joined together to file an amicus brief in the case charging that Biden's executive order to forgive student debt was unconstitutional and violates the separation of powers by circumventing Congress.
RELATED Biden administration proposes student loan 'safety net'
The White House said last month that the plan saw 26 million apply for debt relief with 16 million approved before the federal courts pulled the plug on Biden's plan, allowing the Supreme Court to weigh in.
A federal appeals court on Wednesday declined to put on hold a Texas judge’s ruling that said President Joe Biden’s plan to cancel hundreds of billions of dollars in student loan debt was unlawful.
The New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the Biden administration’s request to pause a judge’s Nov. 10 order vacating the $400 billion student debt relief program in a lawsuit pursued by a conservative advocacy group.
The decision by Fort Worth, Texas-based U.S. District Judge Mark Pittman was one of two nationally that has prevented the U.S. Department of Education under Biden from moving forward with granting debt relief to millions of borrowers.
The administration has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to similarly lift an order by the St. Louis-based 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that, at the request of six Republican-led states, had barred it from cancelling student loans.
Biden announced in August that the U.S. government would forgive up to $10,000 in student loan debt for borrowers making less than $125,000 a year, or $250,000 for married couples. Students who received Pell Grants to benefit lower-income college students will have up to $20,000 of their debt canceled.
During the 2020 presidential campaign, Biden promised to help debt-saddled former college students. Biden’s program has drawn opposition from Republicans, who have portrayed it as shifting the burden of debt from wealthy elites to lower-income Americans.
The Congressional Budget Office in September calculated that the debt forgiveness program run would cost taxpayers about $400 billion.
About 26 million Americans have applied for student loan forgiveness, and the U.S. Department of Education had already approved requests from 16 million by the time Pittman, an appointee of former Republican Donald Trump, issued his ruling.
BREAKING: Trump-Appointed Judge Strikes Down Joe Biden's Student Loan Forgiveness Plan - Scolds Biden Regime in Blistering Opinion https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2022/11/breaking-trump-appointed-judge-strikes-joe-bidens-student-loan-forgiveness-plan-scolds-biden-regime-blistering-opinion/
Hey so a Texas judge (Mark Pittman) blocked Biden's student loan forgiveness plan. One guy stopped millions of people from getting 10k to 20k forgiven from their student loan debt.
It's time to get on his ass with calls and emails and anything else you can do. Also don't be afraid to bully Biden into an executive order which he can do