Former U.S. Senator Russ Feingold, of Wisconsin, is championing a job-killing $15 minimum wage.
In his first policy speech of his Senate campaign in August, Feingold made a gradual hike of the federal minimum wage to $15 a centerpiece of his campaign.
“Low wages mean increased reliance on assistance programs, and less purchasing power for customers to buy needed goods and services locally,” Feingold said. “A living wage means being able to put healthy food on the table for your family.”
Feingold is ramping up a challenge at Wisconsin’s current U.S. Senator, Ron Johnson.
As talk of a federal wage increase heats up, Wisconsin is dealing with its own potential stake hike, too.
In April, Representative Melissa Sargent (D-48, Madison) and Senator Robert Wirch (D-22, Kenosha) introduced legislation to increase the state minimum wage to $15 per hour, eliminates the current prohibition on local governments enacting their own minimum wage laws, eliminates the tip credit, and indexes future increase based on the Consumer Price Index. The legislation has been referred to the Assembly Committee on Small Business Development.