New York
\nThe last time Congress voted to increase the federal minimum wage, Lehman Brothers and Bear Stearns both still existed, Patrick Mahomes was just 11 years old and Kamala Harris was San Francisco\u2019s district attorney.
\nThat minimum wage hike in July 2007 lifted the pay floor in the United States from $5.15 to $5.85 and allowed for two more increases to $7.25 in July 2009. The federal minimum wage hasn\u2019t budged since then.
\nFormer President Donald Trump\u2019s visit on Sunday to a McDonald\u2019s in Pennsylvania highlights the longest period without a national increase in the federal minimum wage since it was established in 1938.
\nAfter briefly manning a McDonald\u2019s fry station, Trump punted when asked by a reporter if he\u2019s in favor of lifting the minimum wage.
\n\u201cWell, I think this: I think these people work hard, they\u2019re great, and I just saw something, the process. It\u2019s beautiful. It\u2019s a beautiful thing to see,\u201d Trump said. \u201cThese are great franchises, they produce a lot of jobs.\u201d Vice President Kamala Harris on Monday attacked Trump for that non-answer and reiterated her calls for a higher minimum wage without specifying what exactly the new federal minimum wage should be.
\nHarris told reporters ahead of a campaign stop in Birmingham, Michigan that she believes \u201cwe must raise minimum wage.\u201d \u201cMy opponent Donald Trump does not believe we should raise minimum wage. And I think everyone knows that the current federal minimum wage is $7.25 an hour, which means that the person who is working a full day and working full weeks will make $15,000 a year, which is essentially poverty wages,\u201d Harris said.
\nThe Harris campaign did not respond to CNN\u2019s request for comment on how high she favors raising the minimum wage.
\nOpponents of raising the minimum wage often argue that moving too aggressively will kill jobs.
\nMichael Reich, chair of the Center on Wage and Employment Dynamics at the University of California at Berkeley, told CNN it\u2019s very possible to boost the minimum wage without killing jobs.
\n\u201cThe reason is political. It\u2019s not economics,\u201d Reich said of the record-long period of time without a federal minimum wage increase. \u201cIt\u2019s part of the political polarization.\u201d
\nEfforts by Democrats in Congress to boost the minimum wage in recent years have repeatedly failed.
\nAsked whether Trump supports a federal minimum wage increase, the Trump campaign shared a statement from Republican National Committee spokesperson Anna Kelly blaming Harris for \u201clowering real wages and raising prices via reckless spending.\u201d
\n\u201cNot only will President Trump restore the booming economic climate of his first term, but he will eliminate taxes on tips and overtime pay and stand up to Communist China\u2019s efforts to hurt American workers,\u201d Kelly said. \u201cWorking families overwhelmingly support President Trump because only he will Make America Wealthy, Strong, and Great Again.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
New York The last time Congress voted to increase the federal minimum wage, Lehman Brothers and Bear Stearns both still existed, Patrick Mahomes was just 11 years old and Kamala Harris was San Francisco\u2019s district attorney. That minimum wage hike in July 2007 lifted the pay floor in the United States from $5.15 to $5.85 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":438958,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-438936","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n