This Congressman Tried to Live on the Minimum Wage

by onepercenttakers · Published August 3, 2014 · Updated August 3, 2014

(CNN) -- Raising the minimum wage continues to be a top Democratic economic priority, insisting that higher pay is critical to helping lift the working poor out of poverty. Some members of Congress put their money where their mouth is. Rep. Tim Ryan of Ohio is one Democratic lawmaker who took the "live the wage challenge" -- to live on pay of $7.25 per hour for one week. The effort promoted by Americans United for Change, an advocacy group funded in large part by labor unions, was established to mark the fifth anniversary of the last federal increase in the minimum wage. Its generic calculation estimates those earners, after housing and bills, have $77 for the week for food, gas, entertainment and emergencies.
Read more... →

(CNN) — Raising the minimum wage continues to be a top Democratic economic priority, insisting that higher pay is critical to helping lift the working poor out of poverty. Some members of Congress put their money where their mouth is. Rep. Tim Ryan of Ohio is one Democratic lawmaker who took the “live the wage challenge” — to live on pay of $7.25 per hour for one week. The effort promoted by Americans United for Change, an advocacy group funded in large part by labor unions, was established to mark the fifth anniversary of the last federal increase in the minimum wage. Its generic calculation estimates those earners, after housing and bills, have $77 for the week for food, gas, entertainment and emergencies.