A First For Tipped Workers Was Part Of What Passed The House Yesterday

by Eva Putzova
Candidate for Congress (AZ-01)

Yesterday, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the historic Raise the Wage Act (H.R.582). It is the first time in the history of this country that either chamber of Congress has passed legislation that guarantees tipped workers the same minimum wage as everybody else in the country.

In my day job, I work for Restaurant Opportunities Centers United-- a grassroots organization that fights to improve wages and working conditions for the nearly 14 million restaurant workers. I have heard so many stories from our members describing their struggle to make ends meet, their dependency on tips forcing them to tolerate sexual harassment, and their wages and tips being stolen. And indeed, the restaurant industry is the single largest source of sexual harassment and has a wage and hour non-compliance rate of 84 percent.

With the vote in Congress, people working in tipped professions as servers, busers, nail salon workers-- most of them women and many people of color and immigrants are for the first time recognized (at least by one legislative chamber) as workers worth the full minimum wage with tips on top.

Across the nation, 29 states and 42 cities have already raised the minimum wage locally. In Flagstaff, Arizona, I led a successful local citizen initiative raising our minimum wage to $15 by 2021 and the exploitative subminimum tipped wage to the full minimum wage by 2026.

While there’s enormous support for raising the federal minimum wage to $15, my opponent-- a blue Dog Democrat (former Republican state legislator Tom O'Halleran)-- contemplated a lower regional minimum wage for people in the southern states. In the end, he weakened this historic legislation through an amendment, allowing Congress to delay or otherwise modify scheduled increases based on their interpretation of findings of a study the same amendment requires. How many times in the past did the Blue Dog Coalition proposed amendments to study the economic impact of other policies on workers’ income and standard of living? Never.

Raising the minimum wage doesn’t hurt jobs. We’ve raised the minimum wage in cities and states across the country and study after study shows no long-term negative impact on employment. The most reputable economists agree that a $15 minimum wage would boost the economy and raise individual income for millions of people. Since increasing the minimum wage in Flagstaff, the most vocal opposition-- the restaurant industry-- saw an increase of 15 percent in total sales. Not only there was no decrease in the economic activity, the industry grew while people in the lowest paid professions got a small boost in their pay.

But this is more than just an economic justice issue. Nearly 40 percent of women of color would see a raise with the federal minimum wage going up. When you look at the map of the tipped wage rates by state, you’ll see that the states that pay their tipped workers $2.13 are mostly southern states with a disproportionally larger population of people of color. And indeed, the subminimum tipped wage has its roots in slavery. At Emancipation, the railroad industry and restaurant lobby demanded the right to hire newly freed slaves and not pay them anything, having them depend entirely on customer tips. The Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 codified this racist practice into law, carrying this legacy of exploitation into the modern era.

A quick history of the Federal tipped wage:

1938: $0
1966: At $0.63, for the first time more than $0 and pegged to 50% of the regular minimum wage.
1991: $2.13
1996: The "other" NRA chaired by Herman Cain successfully separated the tipped wage from the minimum wage-- no longer pegged to the minimum wage.
2019: $2.13

The vote in the U.S. House is truly historic and it deserves recognition. More than 200 members of Congress co-sponsored the Raise the Wage Act. We need the Senate to follow in their footsteps and do what’s been long overdue.

SOCIALISM!!!!!! Democrats Passed A Minimum Wage Bill Today

Schrader, one of only 6 Dems to vote against raising wages, isn't worried because Cheri Bustos will protect him from Mark Gamba

The House finally voted today to gradually raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour. The final vote was 231 to 199. Six Democrats crossed the aisle to vote against it, while 3 Republicans were going in the other direction in favor. I'll come back to that in a second. First I want to mention that before that vote, the Republicans submitted this Motion to Recommit (a way of stopping the legislation from moving forward). It narrowly failed, 210 to 218 because the GOP was united while 14 of the most right-wing, worker-hating Democrats from the Republican-wing of the Democratic Party stuck with the GOP and against working families. I called a DCCC contact and asked if the DCCC would still support these members who had primaries from pro-union opponents. "Regrettably, yes. You should ask Cheri Bustos about that; you know how I feel. I'm looking for another job anyway."

Bustos herself didn't do the anti-worker vote, even if she ran around telling members to do what they felt they had to do and not to worry about the DCCC holding them accountable. Here agree the Democrats who ripped off their Democratic masks this morning to expose what they really are:

• Anthony Brindisi (Blue Dog-NY)
• Henry Cuellar (Blue Dog-TX)
• Joe Cunningham (Blue Dog-SC)
• Sharice Davids (New Dem-KS)
• Josh Gottheimer (Blue Dog-NJ)
• Alcee Hastings (Corrupt-FL)
• Kendra Horn (Blue Dog-OK)
• Ben McAdams (Blue Dog-UT)
• Collin Peterson (Blue Dog-MN)
• Kurt Schrader (Blue Dog-OR)
• Elisse Slotkin (New Dem-MI)
• Abigail Spanberger (Blue Dog-VA)
• Jefferson Van Drew (Blue Dog-NJ)
• Susan Wild (New Dem-PA)

Much worse, of course, were the 6 fake Democrats who crossed the aisle for the final vote. How does a Democrat vote against raising the minimum wage. How do they expect Democrats to vote for them in an election? How does the DCCC countenance it? The 3 Republicans who voted with the Democrats for what the GOP isn calling "socialism" were Brian Fitzpatrick (PA), Francis Rooney (FL) and Chris Smith (NJ), And these were the half dozen "Democrat" assholes:

• Anthony Brindisi (Blue Dog-NY)
• Joe Cunningham (Blue Dog-SC)
• Kendra Horn (Blue Dog-OK)
• Ben McAdams (Blue Dog- UT)
• Kurt Schrader (Blue Dog-OR)
• Xochitl Torres Small (Blue Dog-NM)

Watch for how many utterly clueless refer to these Democrats as "moderates," instead of as the conservatives they are. Moderates don't vote this way. Conservatives do. "Moderate" is too positive a word to cede it to conservatives just because journalists are so stupid and biased. The conservatives inside the Democratic Party lost their battle to only have the $15 wage apply to some states but not to-- basically-- the South. Alabama sell-out Terri Sewell (New Dem) led the fight to screw over her own constituents, even through she voted for it in the end. The Hill reported that "Liberals won the battle for enacting a wage hike to $15 across the country, while centrists succeeded in lengthening the time period for the extension from five to six years. The legislation also includes an amendment requiring that its economic impact be studied as the wage hike is phased in." So at least the conservatives got something from the hide of working families!

A report from the Congressional Budget Office projected the hike would lift 1.3 million people out of poverty, but that it would also cost the U.S. 1.3 million jobs by 2024.

...This is the first time that the House has moved to raise the minimum wage since 2007, when it was raised to $7.25 per hour starting in 2009.

...The legislation is not expected to be taken up in the GOP Senate, but will likely be a theme in next year’s electoral campaigns.

Republicans dusted off their century old playbook to attack the legislation dishonestly. Conservative asshole and working family-hater Michael Burgess (R-TX): "This legislation would raise the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour, a 107 percent increase over the current rate of $7.25 an hour. An increase of this magnitude could harm American businesses, could harm American consumers, and certainly will harm American workers. The legislation does not consider the labor market, it disincentivizes job growth, and has the potential to leave nearly 4 million workers unemployed." Conservatives have been using this language-- which is always proved wrong-- since the concept of a minimum wage was first introduced.

Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) was one of the Democrats who led the fight against Sewell and the other conservatives trying to water down the legislation. Today she told her Seattle constituents "I was honored to serve on the committee that drafted Seattle’s historic $15 minimum wage bill in 2014. Since then, unemployment has gone down, median household income has gone up and our city has become one of the best places to do business in America. Now it’s time for the federal government to follow Seattle’s lead and raise the wage nationwide. Raising the minimum wage isn’t just an economic justice issue; it’s a women’s issue and a racial justice issue. The majority of workers who would benefit from this wage hike are women. This increase would also disproportionately benefit black and Hispanic women. I am proud to have worked alongside workers who put themselves on the line and built a powerful movement to raise the wage across the country. House Democrats made a promise to raise wages for American workers. Today, we delivered."

This is what progressive Democrat Dana Balter talked with Syracuse area voters about this today, reminding them that her Republican opponent voted against the bill:

BREAKING: The House just passed a $15 minimum wage! A $15 minimum wage would raise the pay of 26.6% of the U.S. workforce, including 38% of African Americans. That’s nearly 40 million workers who are struggling to get by, to raise a family, to pay their bills, to get an education. They deserve to live with dignity and respect. They deserve a fair shot. Income and wealth inequality has been on the rise for decades-- it’s time we put a stop to it.

Make no mistake: this is a massive victory for working people, who first went on strike 6 years ago to push both Democrats and Republicans to support a $15 minimum wage and the right to a union. They’ve demonstrated so clearly the power of ordinary people to change the world. In 2020, after we take back the Senate and White House, we’ll get this done-- for them.

And in case it wasn’t obvious-- yeah, John Katko voted no. How do we feel about that?

Kathy Ellis lives in one of the poorest-- and reddest-- districts in America. But southeast Missouri residents would benefit gigantically of McConnell allowed it to be voted on in the Senate and Trump signed it. "I’m proud to see the House vote to raise the minimum wage today," she told us, minutes after the vote. "Families shouldn’t have to work multiple jobs to provide for their families, and raising the wage will go a long way in helping people make ends meet. I’m proud to support raising the minimum wage to $15/hour. I’m also grateful for the hard work and organizing of unions who brought this issue forward."

Michigan Republican Fred Upton is a multimillionaire because of his grandfather's hard work. Fred, though, doesn't have a clue about how working families in southwest Michigan live. State Rep. Jon Hoadley is running for Upton's MI-06 seat this cycle. Right after Upton cast his predictable but disappointing vote against raising the minimum wage, Hoadley told me that "raising the minimum wage to $15 is the floor of what we should be doing to fix our broken economics in America. Raising the minimum wage is the bare minimum necessary to give our families space between us and the bill collectors harassing people just trying to make ends meet." His campaign is based on many points, from Medicare-for-All and the Green New Deal to free public colleges and strengthening union, that will help ease the out-of-control economic inequality that is more dangerous now that at any time since the Roaring '20s led to the Great Depression.

Kara Eastman, a progressive Democrat and champion of Omaha area working families is running for Congress in a seat held by a Republican who couldn't care less about workers. No one was surprised today when Don Bacon voted against raising the minimum wage. "I know this faces a tough road in the Senate," said Kara after passage in the House, "but what a great step forward for working Americans. As usual, the current representative from the Nebraska 2nd voted against giving people who work hard a fighting chance."

Milwaukie Mayor Mark Gamba is the progressive Democrat running for the western Oregon district represented by anti-working class Blue Dog Kurt Schrader. Gamba told us that "the state of Oregon is on track to be a $15 an hour minimum wage state. Even if the only thing you care about is big business, you would think that a Congressman from Oregon would care most about the big businesses in Oregon. Clearly he's perfectly happy to give competitive advantage to States surrounding us that do not have a $15 an hour minimum wage. This is pretty much a classic example of a Congressman who only cares about what his national corporate donors want him to care about. Never mind the millions of people who work two, and sometimes three jobs, at minimum wage and still can barely get food on the table and pay the rent. The national minimum wage is far, far below what it would have been had it only kept pace with inflation."

Neither Mike Siegel (TX-10) nor Audrey Denney (CA-01) expected the Republican incumbents to support raising the minimum wage-- since neither Michael McCaul nor Doug LaMalfa ever has before. Siegel told us that "the Raise the Wage Act is both essential for American workers and good politics for Democrats. A full-time job should provide a living wage, period. To allow otherwise is to promote inequality and undermine the promise of equal opportunity. McCaul either doesn’t understand, because his massive wealth and privilege puts him out of touch with the concerns of working people, or he doesn’t care. Either way, it disqualifies him from being a true representative of the Texas 10th.

Audrey has been campaigning on raising the minimum wage since she decided to take on LaMalfa. She has said that "increasing the minimum wage so that full-time workers do not live below the poverty line, and then tying the minimum wage to inflation increases, so that it keeps up with changes over time is essential for development is rural areas like her own." She also advocates assisting small businesses by assessing the financial impact of the wage increase, and providing them support or tax breaks. From her website:

Help Stop The Koch Brothers From Buying The Democratic Party, The Way They Bought The GOP-- Support Working Class Warrior Eva Putzova

You may recall that a few weeks ago, a Koch brothers’ spokeswoman announced that their network is now willing to finance political campaigns for Democrats who are "in step with Koch policies." Koch policies? Koch policies are first and foremost their business bottom line. Any study of their pattern of political giving shows what being in step with the Koch policies means: slashing government regulations that protect workers and the environment. And that is perfect for the Democrats who make up the Republican wing of the Democratic Party, the New Dems and Blue Dogs— like, for example, Tom O’Halleran, an “ex”-Republican Arizona legislator who switched parties and it now a member of both the New Dems and the Blue Dogs. In fact, he’s a Blue Dog co-chair… and no one has to beg him to support Koch policies. Tom O’Halleran has been doing that for his entire political career.

His primary opponent, a progressive Democrat from Flagstaff and former national Bernie Sanders delegate to the Democratic National Convention, is Eva Putzova, who made her bones fighting against Koch policies— and the Koch brothers themselves… and winning.

This week I received a letter from Marilyn Weissman, who has known Eva since they were both board members of Friends of Flagstaff’s Future. She explained why she is supporting Eva’s challenge to O’Halleran in the Arizona primary. “We need Eva in Congress,” she wrote, “to lead on issues such as raising the minimum wage, fighting climate change, keeping us out of wars, and protecting women’s reproductive rights. Eva's bold leadership has proven she’s a strong advocate for the people of Flagstaff. She worked hard to gain a seat on the council and brought a progressive perspective to local issues.” Marilyn was urging her fellow Arizonans to vote for Eva in the2020 August primary.

They worked together on the $15 Minimum Wage Campaign here in Flagstaff, where, in her words, Eva “was a tireless advocate and campaigner for restaurant and other low wage workers. In the face of much criticism from the Chamber of Commerce, Eva was fearless and never backed down. Eva stood up to the Koch-network-funded efforts in Flagstaff’s minimum wage fight and will stand up to them and other big money interests when she is in Congress. We in Arizona have an opportunity to add another progressive woman to Congress in 2020. Let’s be as fearless as Eva and work to make that happen!”

Eva was born and raised in Slovakia, made Flagstaff her home in 2000 and became a U.S. citizen in 2007. She started her professional career in the renewable energy sector and, in 2003, began working in higher education. During her 14-year tenure at Northern Arizona University she held a number of positions, including Director of Strategic Planning and Executive Director for Marketing and Strategic Communications. She was elected to the Flagstaff City Council in 2014. Today, she is the National Communications and Technology Director for Restaurant Opportunities Centers United, working to raise wages and improve working conditions for the country’s 13 million restaurant workers.

Her website emphasizes themes that any progressive Democrat would be behind— and that have been opposed by Tom O’Halleran. One especially caught my attention: "Over the last 30 years, wages have remained flat for most workers while corporate profits have soared. One reason for stagnant wages is the loss of workers’ bargaining power as labor unions have been decimated by corporate attacks. The other reason is the low federal minimum wage. I will support legislation to allow workers to more easily unionize and to raise the federal minimum wage to $15 per hour."

After decades of stagnating wages and an inadequate federal minimum wage policy, communities around the country have been taking actions into their own hands. To raise wages in red states like Arizona, your only option is a ballot initiative. Republican lawmakers not only refuse to raise the minimum wage legislatively, they would prefer to get rid of it completely, taking us back to the era of total labor exploitation.

In 2016, in Flagstaff, Arizona, I led a local citizen initiative raising the minimum wage to $15, gradually increasing the subminimum tipped wage to the full minimum wage, and establishing local enforcement-- another key provision in states where your governor does not believe in enforcing the law against wage theft and corporate greed. Shortly after the local success in the 2016 election, the Koch outfit American Encore initiated a repeal of the voter-approved minimum wage law. They called their misleading amendment the “Sustainable Wages Act” and collected signatures to get it on the next ballot by simply lying to people. From the beginning, the biggest opposition to raising wages came from the restaurant industry because the local law finally increases the subminimum tipped wage. Living almost exclusively off tips forces the mostly female restaurant workforce to put up with inappropriate behavior from customers, managers, and co-workers.

At the same time when Flagstaff passed its One Fair Wage covering tipped workers under the same minimum wage rate rules as the rest of the workforce, so did voters in Maine. While Arizona and Flagstaff enjoyed the protections of the Voter Protection Act and initiatives can’t be overturned by legislative action, people in Maine were not so lucky. The National Restaurant Association, the “other” NRA, is a trade lobby that spends millions of dollars influencing legislation in order to keep wages low and uphold their greedy corporate agenda. The “other” NRA piloted a new lobbying tactic in Maine, fronting a fake grassroots group called the Restaurant Workers of America, in which white male servers from fine dining establishments argue against increasing their own wages. The astroturf group managed to get enough faux Democrats in the Maine legislature to overturn the people’s will.

In addition to astroturfing, the restaurant lobby buys legislators when they can-- as was the case recently in DC where the City Council repealed the voter-approved Initiative 77, or in Michigan, where legislators adopted the voter-initiated ballot measure rather than sending it out to the voters which would have tied their hands. They gutted the law in the lame duck session and left tipped workers way behind-- with $4.58 per hour by 2030 instead of $12 by 2022 that the Michigan voters petitioned for. [More recently], in New Jersey, legislators cut a deal with the Governor to raise the minimum wage to $15, carving out tipped workers and farmworkers, with the tipped wage going up from an embarrassing $2.13 to an insulting $5.13 in five years. All over the country, people support raising the minimum wage and raising the subminimum tipped wage. It’s the legislators who are behind.

The 2018 campaign in Flagstaff to repeal the minimum wage was in its final stages funded by other dark money shops-- America Revived and Market Freedom Alliance who worked hand in hand with the local Chamber of Commerce and a local Restaurant Association. While we may never know what they spent-- as their reporting is as shady as their donor base-- we estimate they outspent our local NO campaign protecting the minimum wage by a 4-to-1 margin. We ran a fearless campaign knocking on the doors, proving that organized people can defeat organized money. We protected the local law by a greater margin than we won initially in 2016. Thanks to Flagstaff voters (and a well-run defense campaign), $140 million will go every year to the pockets of workers instead of their corporate bosses.

It’s disturbing how so many of our so-called Democrats are willing to defy the will of the voters and support the subminimum tipped wage policy-- a policy that is nothing more than institutionalized gender and racial discrimination because more than 65 percent of restaurant workers are women and many are people of color. And yet, One Fair Wage has been in effect for decades in seven states-- California, Nevada, Oregon, Minnesota, Montana, Washington, and Alaska. These one-fair-wage states have half the rate of sexual harassment as the 43 states with subminimum tipped wages. In addition, they have higher restaurant sales per capita in the industry (proving that paying people well is good for the bottom line), higher job growth, and the same or higher tipping averages than the 43 states where tipped workers still get paid the subminimum wage rate.

What stands between workers and their ability to enjoy a decent life with a stable paycheck is too often just corporate greed enabled by a subservient legislature. But we can do better. I will fight for just, generous, and inclusive America as hard as I fought for Flagstaff workers against the Chamber allied with the Koch network and their dark money tentacles.

All the other Democrats in Congress from Arizona— Raul Grijalva, Ruben Gallego and even Ann Kirkpatrick— have signed on as co-sponsors of Bobby Scott’s Raise the Wage Act. But O’Halleran, typical Republican that he is, has refused— like all the Republicans have. There are now 235 Democrats in Congress. As of today, 205 are official co-sponsors of the $15 minimum wage legislation. Only 30 oppose it. Does Tom O’Halleran think workers in Flagstaff, Winslow, Tuba City, Maricopa, Casa Grande, Safford, Holbrook, Ganado... don’t want and need a raise?

Eva Putzova isn’t one of the Democrats the Koch brothers networks is planning on supporting in this year's primaries— quote the opposite… nor is she interested in pursuing their sewer money. Her platform is not and will never be "in step with Koch policies." O’Halleran represents their interests. Eva is fighting for peoples’ interests against the Koch brothers bottom line. Please consider contributing to her congressional campaign by clicking on the Blue America 2020 Primary A Blue Dog thermometer on the right. Cheri Bustos and her renegade DCCC are doing all they can to protect Tom O’Halleran from Arizona Democrats instead of working with local Democrats to end the career of this fake-Dem by replacing him with someone who embodies the values and vision of the Democratic Party as it was crafted by Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt to make it a protector of American working families— not a protector of Wall Street banksters and multinational corporate interests. FDR knew who the enemy was— and so does Eva Putzova. Cheri Bustos doesn’t and neither does Tom O’Halleran.

Still No Minimum Wage Bill-- Not Because Of Trump Or McTurtle-- Because Of Pelosi And Hoyer And Their Blue Dogs

The Deseret News in Utah is far more conservative than the Salt Lake Tribune. But last week, the paper's ran an OpEd that one wouldn't expect to see in a right-wing Republican newspaper, America Has Gone Too Long Without Raising The Minimum Wage. "June 16 marks the longest period in history without an increase since the federal minimum wage was established in 1938. The federal minimum wage went to $7.25 an hour on July 24, 2009-- nearly 10 years ago. It remains $7.25 today, amounting to just $15,080 a year for full-time work. When the minimum wage does not go up, it goes down in value relative to the cost of living. The gap between minimum wage and the cost of rent, groceries, medicine, transportation and everything else keeps growing. That matters whether you’re trying to work your way through school, support your child or need a job to make ends meet on Social Security. The buying power of today’s $7.25 minimum is lower than the minimum wage of 1968, which would be $11.96 in 2019 dollars, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Inflation Calculator. Our economy has grown considerably since 1968, but not the federal minimum wage, which sets the floor under worker pay."

As we saw Sunday evening, Steny Hoyer is willing to put everything on the line to get a raise-- for members of Congress. Enough Democrats agreed that-- at the very least-- this looked out of touch with the economic realties of the country that Hoyer was reigned in by his own caucus.

There's no chance a minimum wage increase is going to be enacted with McConnell running the Senate and Trump in the White House, but Pelosi had campaigned on passing a $15 minimum wage, not in her first 100 days as speaker but in her first 100 hours. She hasn't delivered. On January 16, Bobby Scott (D-VA) introduced a great piece of legislation, the Raise the Wage Act (H.R.582). The bill would gradually raise the minimum wage to $15/hour. There are 235 Democrats in the House. 205 have signed on as co-sponsors. The last to sign on is a very conservative Blue Dog freshman from Virginia, Abigail Spanberger. The 16 other non-original co-sponsors were virtually all conservative Democrats from the Republican wing of the Democratic Party-- members like Ed Case (Blue Dog-HI), Seth Moulton (New Dem-MA), Ami Bera (New Dem-CA), Stephen Lynch (New Dem-MA), Mikie Sherrill (Blue Dog-NJ), Josh Gottheimer (Blue Dog-NJ), Max Rose (Blue Dog-NY), Ann Kirkpatrick (New Dem-AZ), Jim Cooper (Blue Dog-TN) Elissa Slotkin (New Dem-MI)-- but at least they signed on! There are still 30 Democrats-- THIRTY-- who haven't signed on. That includes 19 freshmen who are being advised to not co-sponsor a bill that raises the minimum wage. How are they even Democrats if they're taking that kind of advice from Hoyer and the DCCC? These are the freshmen who are not cosponsors. How do any of them deserve to be reelected?

• Jeff Van Drew (Blue Dog-NJ)
• Joe Cunningham (Blue Dog-SC)
• Kendra Horn (Blue Dog-OK)
• Cindy Axne (New Dem-IA)
• Ben McAdams (Blue Dog-UT)
• Xochitl Torres Small (Blue Dog-NM)
• Sharice Davids (New Dem-KS)
• Anthony Brindisi (Blue Dog-NY)
• Antonio Delgado (NY)
• Abby Finkenauer (IA)
• Lucy McBath (New Dem-GA)
• Angie Craig (New Dem-MN)
• Colin Allred (New Dem-TX)
• Dean Phillips (New Dem-MN)
• Chris Pappas (New Dem-NH)
• TJ Cox (New Dem-CA)
• Sean Casten (New Dem-IL)
• Lauren Underwood (New Dem-IL)
• Greg Stanton (New Dem-AZ)

On paper, Pelosi, Hoyer and Jim Clyburn-- as well as Blue Dog chair Stephanie Murphy-- are original co-sponsors. But if you want to know why there is no bill, look no further than those 4 + Alabama New Dem and corporate shill Terri Sewell (a co-sponsor on paper who is working the hardest to stop the bill from moving). Hoyer, who's never done anything without a sign-off from K Street, told CNN in mid-May that "We'll get the votes for the minimum wage bill, but there are discussions about how we can, what actions, if any, should we take to make sure that it is fair." Fair? Fair to who, the workers who are slaving away on wages they can't live on? Or fair to Hoyer's lobbyist buddies' clients?

It's most comfortable for Pelosi and Hoyer and their team to blame the lack of progress on the Republicans but the sad reality is that they can't even get a $15 minimum wage bill through the House they control. This is a touchy item for them. Conservative Democrats want to please business interests that have always and will always oppose the minimum wage-- let alone increases to it-- but they're petrified that if their base voters find out that it's them who are keeping it from passing the voters won't turn out for them. Nor should they. Pelosi and her leadership team helped set a record yesterday-- a shameful record of not raising the minimum wage for the longest period in history. Congratulations, Speaker Pelosi-- the longer you cling to power, the worse and worse your legacy turns.

Is The Democratic Tent Too Big Or Has Pelosi Lost Her Magic Touch? She Hasn't Even Been Able To Pass A Minimum Wage Bill

LOL!

Bobby Scott (D-VA) introduced a great piece of legislation on January 16, the Raise the Wage Act (H.R.582. The bill would gradually raise the minimum wage to $15/hour. There are 235 Democrats in the House. 205 have signed on as co-sponsors. The last to sign on is a very conservative Blue Dog freshman from Virginia, Abigail Spanberger. The 16 other non-original co-sponsors were virtually all conservative Democrats from the Republican wing of the Democratic Party-- Ed Case (Blue Dog-HI), Seth Moulton (New Dem-MA), Ami Bera (New Dem-CA), Stephen Lynch (New Dem-MA), Mikie Sherrill (Blue Dog-NJ), Jim Himes (New Dem-CT), Lloyd Doggett (D-TX), Josh Gottheimer (Blue Dog-NJ), Haley Stevens (New Dem-MI), Max Rose (Blue Dog-NY), Chrissy Houlahan (New Dem-PA), Richard Neal (MA), Ann Kirkpatrick (New Dem-AZ), Filemon Vela (New Dem-TX), Jim Cooper (Blue Dog-TN) and Elissa Slotkin (New Dem-MI)-- but at least they signed on! There are still 30 Democrats-- THIRTY-- who haven't signed on. That includes 19 freshmen who are being advised to not sign on as a co-sponsor to a bill that raises the minimum wage. How are they even Democrats if they're taking that kind of advice from the DCCC? These are the freshmen who have not signed on. How do any of them deserve to be reelected?

• Jeff Van Drew (Blue Dog-NJ)
• Joe Cunningham (Blue Dog-SC)
• Kendra Horn (Blue Dog-OK)
• Cindy Axne (New Dem-IA)
• Ben McAdams (Blue Dog-UT)
• Xochitl Torres Small (Blue Dog-NM)
• Sharice Davids (New Dem-KS)
• Anthony Brindisi (Blue Dog-NY)
• Antonio Delgado (NY)
• Abby Finkenauer (IA)
• Lucy McBath (New Dem-GA)
• Angie Craig (New Dem-MN)
• Colin Allred (New Dem-TX)
• Dean Phillips (New Dem-MN)
• Chris Pappas (New Dem-NH)
• TJ Cox (New Dem-CA)
• Sean Casten (New Dem-IL)
• Lauren Underwood (New Dem-IL)
• Greg Stanton (New Dem-AZ)

Zach Wolf from CNN.com wrote took a look at why Pelosi hasn't been able to pass the bill despite have campaigned on a promise to pass a $15 minimum wage bill within her first 100 hours as Speaker. On paper, Pelosi, Majority Leader Steny Hoyer and Majority Whip Jim Clyburn-- as well as Blue Dog chair Stephanie Murphy-- are original co-sponsors. But if you want to know why there is no bill, look no further than those 4 + Alabama New Dem and corporate shill Terri Sewell (a co-sponsor on paper who is working the hardest to stop the bill from moving). Hoyer, who's never done anything without a sign-off from K Street, told CNN last week that "We'll get the votes for the minimum wage bill, but there are discussions about how we can, what actions, if any, should we take to make sure that it is fair." Fair? Fair to who, the workers who are slaving away from wages they can't live on? Or fair to Hoyer's lobbyist buddies' clients?

"Democrats," wrote Wolf, "who hail from states and districts where it's not as expensive to live are not as keen on that $15 figure. At least not right now. It's not clear at this point when or even if House Speaker Pelosi will move toward the $15 minimum wage bill. (And even if she does, the bill faces a very uncertain future in the Republican-controlled Senate). One alternative to a blanket $15 federal minimum wage, being pushed by moderate [translation: corrupt conservative] Democrats like Rep. Terri Sewell of Alabama, would calculate a minimum wage regionally. The advantage, said Sewell in April, is that this proposal 'provides all minimum wage workers with a much-needed raise while protecting jobs, giving every community the flexibility to grow their economy and taking into account that the cost of living in Selma, Alabama is very different than New York City.'"

It's been 10 years since the federal minimum wage went up. The bill that passed through committee earlier this year would raise the minimum hourly wage from the current $7.25 to $15 over five years. Thereafter, it would enable automatic annual hikes based on increases in the median hourly wage as determined by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, an important feature of the $15 wage bill-- the Raise the Wage Act-- that would make another 10-year lull unlikely.

There was no federal minimum wage until 1938, and it's been raised periodically. But Congress hasn't approved a new wage hike since 2007, when President George W. Bush signed the current wage into law. The last hike approved through that law went into effect in 2009.

The dollar isn't worth what it once was, of course. It would take about $8.60 in 2019 to equal the buying power of $7.25 in 2009, according to one government inflation calculator.

The $15 value has been repeated by Democrats in Congress and some presidential candidates like a mantra in recent years as they criticize corporations, saying they're undervaluing their employees. It's a key way they contrast themselves with Republicans, who have focused on helping corporations and businesses with a permanent tax cut rather than workers with a guaranteed higher wage.

But there is some recent research on local minimum wage hikes that challenges the long-held view that a higher minimum wage leads to fewer total low-wage jobs. In today's economy, with an unemployment rate under 4%, fewer jobs might not be a problem anyway.

Even if Democrats can figure out how to pass a $15 minimum wage, that isn't a number that will wipe out poverty or even lead to a living wage-- enough to cover a worker's expenses-- everywhere in the country.

While President Donald Trump was on both sides of this issue during his campaign in 2016 and said certain states need much higher wages, his White House has been cool to the idea of a minimum wage increase.

"My view is a federal minimum wage is a terrible idea. A terrible idea," Trump's top economic adviser Larry Kudlow told the Washington Post in November. He called the notion of a federal minimum wage hike "silly."

Blood-sucking conservatives like Kudlow have been making this argument against the minimum wage-- and basically anything else that lifts people out of poverty-- since the 1890s. By the 1930s, the voters taught conservatives-- by then mostly Republicans-- a good lesson: the sting of unemployment, as dozens and dozens of Republican congressmen and senators were defeated for reelection year after year, cycle after cycle. By 1936 there were only 88 Republicans left in the House (334 Democrats, 8 Progressives and 5 Farmer-Labor members). 1936 was also the year that saw the Republicans reduced to just 17 senators. Wouldn't it be amazing to see numbers like that again!

Unfortunately, Pelosi, Hoyer and Clyburn-- combined age is 238-- no longer have the skill or capacity to get anything done-- or to make the Republicans and the corrupt conservatives in their own party-- pay for keeping it from getting done. The three of them should all be sitting in rocking chairs and playing with their grandchildren.

I asked half a dozen members of Congress if the minimum wage bill would have been passed if Pelosi and her team were no longer the House leaders. All 6 said yes-- and 4 of them brought up Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) as someone who would have gotten it done. Jayapal would have also begun impeachment proceedings by now.

Despite The DCCC, House Democrats Should Do Well Next Year Thanks To Trump

Medicare-For-All original co-sponsor Josh Harder (CA) raked in a stupendous $800,000 in the first quarter. Just imagine how much he would have raised if he was also co-sponsoring the Green New Deal and a $15 minimum wage

If the Democrats don't deliver on the expectations voters have of them-- Medicare-For-All, a $15 minimum wage, the Green New Deal, etc-- 2022 is going to be a banner year for the GOP-- akin to 2010. But 2020 is not going to be a banner year for the GOP. It's more likely to be even worse for them than 2018 was. There's a good chance they will lose seats in the Senate and they could gain as many as 50 seats in the House, despite the DCCC being burdened with the most inept chair in recent memory.

Republicans had hoped to win back seats in red districts that Democrats stumbled into last year. Right now the closest thing to a sure loss I see is the Oklahoma City seats, where Blue Dog Kendra Horn is disappointing and alienating her Democratic base without picking up enough support anywhere else to make up for it. Meanwhile though, Democratic freshmen, reports the Washington Examiner, "are posting huge fundraising numbers...signaling trouble for Republicans hoping to reclaim the House... [T]he stellar numbers from relatively obscure, freshman House Democrats have caught the attention of Republican operatives. Rep. Josh Harder (D-CA) raised $800,000 from Jan. 1 to March 31; Rep. Antonio Delgado (D-NY) raised $750,000; and Rep. Joe Cunningham (D-SC) raised $650,000, to name a few.

Fatigue typically sets in after an election as donors retrench and the grassroots bask in victory. To the extent robust, post-midterm election activity continues, presidential candidates usually benefit. But House Democrats-- even those not named Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY)-- are maintaining their 2018 momentum.

“The Democrats’ liberal base is still motivated by their white-hot hatred of President Trump,” said Michael Steel, a Republican operative.

Democrats collectively raised more than $1 billion in 2017 and 2018 on their way to flipping 40 House seats and winning control of the chamber after eight years in the minority. The party lost a net of two Senate seats but successfully defended a handful of targeted seats while capturing two from the GOP in the key battlegrounds of Arizona and Nevada. In doing so, Democrats vastly outraised the Republicans.

Some Republicans assumed that the progressive energy fueling the Democratic Party’s green wave of fundraising and activism in 2018 would cool down post-election. According to this line of this line of thinking, seizing the House, and exercising the power it afforded, would satisfy some of the hunger to combat Trump.

But some Republicans are warning colleagues to ignore this conventional wisdom after seeing the initial wave of first quarter fundraising figures from House Democrats who were elected just last November and are far from household names. “Democrats are serious about defeating the president and they want a House that will be helpful,” said a veteran Republican strategist, who requested anonymity to avoid publicly criticizing the party.

“In 2018, Democrats were just getting started,” this operative added.

...With Trump on the ballot in 2020, Republicans are not going to have an enthusiasm or turnout problem.

But neither will Democrats. Trump is the most polarizing political figure in contemporary American history. Republicans will turn out in great numbers to support him and Democrats will turn out in great numbers to oppose him. Independents will determine who wins and right now, Trump continuing to poll very badly with them.

Other freshmen in districts targeted by the NRCC who have been raising prohibitively large amounts of money include Democrats from all wings of the party:

• Max Rose (Blue Dog-NY)- $600,000
• Haley Stevens (New Dem-MI)- $565,000
• Katie Hill (New Dem-CA)- $560,000
• Andy Kim (D-NJ)- $550,000
• Harley Rouda (New Dem-CA)- $500,000

These are the freshman members supporting 3 key pieces of legislation-- Pramila Jayapal's new-and-improved Medicare for All Act (H.R.1384), AOC's Green New Deal Resolution (H.Res.109) and Bobby Scott's $15 minimum wage bill (H.R.582):

• Veronica Escobar (TX)- Medicare for All, $15, GND
• Chuy Garcia (IL)- Medicare for All, $15, GND
• Debra Haaland (NM)- Medicare for All, $15, GND
• Jahana Hayes (CT)- Medicare for All, $15, GND
• Mike Levin (CA)- Medicare for All, $15, GND
• Andy Levin (MI)- Medicare for All, $15, GND
• Joe Neguse (CO)- Medicare for All, $15, GND
• Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez- Medicare for All, $15, GND
• Ayanna Pressley (MA)- Medicare for All, $15, GND
• Rashida Tlaib (MI)- Medicare for All, $15, GND
• Lori Trahan (MA)- Medicare for All, $15, GND

• Debbie Mucarsel-Powell (FL)- $15, GND

• Katie Hill (CA)- Medicare for All, $15
• Ilhan Omar (MN)- Medicare for All, $15
• Susan Wild (PA)- Medicare for All, $15

• Jared Golden (ME)- Medicare for All
• Josh Harder (CA)- Medicare for All

• Joseph Morelle (NY)- $15
• Kim Schrier (WA)- $15
• Donna Shalala (FL)- $15
• David Trone (MD)- $15
• Susie Lee (NV)- $15
• Tom Malinowski (NJ)- $15
• Jennifer Wexton (VA)- $15
• Sylvia Garcia (TX)- $15
• Elaine Luria (VA)- $15
• Mary Gay Scanlon (PA)- $15
• Katie Porter (CA)- $15
• Gil Cisneros (CA)- $15
• Andy Kim (NJ)- $15
• Harley Rouda (CA)- $15
• Steven Horsford (NV)- $15
• Jason Crow (CO)- $15
• Ed Case (HI)- $15
• Mike Sherrill (NJ)- $15
• Haley Stevens (MI)- $15
• Max Rose (NY)- $15
• Madeleine Dean (PA)- $15
• Chrissy Houlahan (PA)- $15
• Ann Kirkpatrick (AZ)- $15
• Elissa Slotkin (MI)- $15
• Abigail Spanberger (VA)- $15

NY Blue Dog Anthony Brindisi isn't cosponsoring a $15 minimum wage, isn't cosponsoring the Green New Deal and isn't cosponsoring Medicare For All-- but expects Democrats to vote for him next year

And these are the Democratic freshmen who are supporting NONE of the progressive initiatives, not even the $15 minimum wage, which should be easy as pie for any Democrat. This list is of non-co-sponsors, not necessarily opponents. Some of these members will vote for the bills but for one reason or another just haven't signed on as co-sponsors. Some though, are opponents.

• Jeff Van Drew (NJ)
• Joe Cunningham (SC)
• Kendra Horn (OK)
• Cindy Axne (IA)
• Ben McAdams (UT)
• Xochitl Torres Small (NM)
• Sharice Davids (KS)
• Anthony Brindisi (NY)
• Antonio Delgado (NY)
• Abby Finkenauer (IA)
• Lucy McBath (GA)
• Angie Craig (MN)
• Colin Allred (TX)
• Dean Phillips (MN)
• Chris Pappas (NH)
• TJ Cox (CA)
• Sean Casten (IL)
• Lauren Underwood (IL)
• Greg Stanton (AZ)

What Conservative Dems-- The Republican Wing Of The Democratic Party-- Don't Want

The Green New Deal is complicated and partially abstract and certainly not easy to understand for an idiot. It's aspirational too. Medicare-For-All isn't as complicated, but it's complicated too. You know what's not complicated? Raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour, a semi-livable wage. That;'s pretty straight forward. But it's something that infuriates conservatives almost as much as the Green New Deal and Medicare For All do. Conservatives have always opposed the minimum wage and always opposed raising the minimum wage.

In the late 1800s anti sweatshop activism began gaining strength in Australian, the U.K. and the U.S., leading to calls for minimum wages. Massachusetts passed the first minimum wage legislation in the U.S. in 1912. A decade later there were 15 states with minimum wage laws. The very conservative Supreme Court kept striking them down, declaring them unconstitutional, because they interfered with the ability of employers to freely negotiate wage contracts with employees. And then came the bane of every conservative heart: the New Deal. The Supreme Court struck down the first national minimum wage in the '30s. After FDR was reelected in the biggest landslide in history in 1936 and started discussing putting more justices on the court, the conservatives on the court finally saw the light and ruled a minimum wage law constitutional. The federal minimum wage started at 25 cents an hour and by 1990 it had grown to $3.80. Today the federal minimum wage is $7.25, although only $2.13 for "tipped labor."

Most of the states in the Old Confederacy-- particularly where Republicans have complete control-- don't have any minimum wage at all, of course-- Alabama, Mississippi, South Carolina, Louisiana, Tennessee. Georgia's is $5.15. California, Washington and Massachusetts have the highest minimum wages among states-- $12.00 that will gradually rise, along with New York's and New Jersey's, to $15.00.

Every passage in every jurisdiction and every increase has been fought by conservatives. That has usually broken down to meaning that nearly all Republicans oppose it and nearly all Democrats support it. But something's changing. Not in the Republican party; they're as opposed to workers' having the ability to live with any sense of dignity as they ever were. Unfortunately, the change comes among Democrats. Starting with Bill Clinton, the Democratic Party began catering more to corporate and financial interests and less to unions and workers. That ugly neoliberal trend has accelerated since Clinton's presidency and now we have immense power resting in the hands of the Blue Dogs and New Dems in Congress, perhaps enough to kill the super-popular calls for a $15 national minimum wage. Let me start by making sure you know who, very specifically, the New Dems are. Almost every Blue Dog is also a New Dem; the only 6 who aren't are Jeff Van Drew (NJ), Filemon Vela (TX), Sanford Bishop (GA), Mike Thompson (CA), Collin Peterson (MN) and Dan Lipinski (IL). This is, at least in the House, the Republican wing of the Democratic Party:

• Pete Aguilar (CA)
• Colin Allred (TX)
• Cindy Axne (IA)
• Ami Bera (CA)
• Don Beyer (VA)
• Lisa Blunt Rochester (DE)
• Brendan Boyle (PA)
• Anthony Brindisi (NY)
• Anthony Brown (MD)
• Julia Brownley (CA)
• Cheri Bustos (IL)
• Salud Carbajal (CA)
• Tony Cárdenas (CA)
• André Carson (IN)
• Ed Case (HI)
• Sean Casten (IL)
• Joaquin Castro (TX)
• Gil Cisneros (CA)
• Gerry Connolly (VA)
• Jim Cooper (TN)
• Lou Correa (CA)
• Jim Costa (CA)
• Angie Craig (MN)
• Charlie Crist (FL)
• Jason Crow (CO)
• Henry Cuellar (TX)
• Joe Cunningham (SC)
• Sharice Davids (KS)
• Susan Davis (CA)
• Madeleine Dean (PA)
• Suzan DelBene (WA), vice-chair
• Val Demings (FL)
• Eliot Engels (NY)
• Veronica Escobar (TX)
• Lizzie Fletcher (TX)
• Bill Foster (IL)
• Vicente Gonzalez (TX)
• Josh Gottheimer (NJ)
• Josh Harder (CA)
• Denny Heck (WA)
• Katie Hill (CA)
• Jim Himes (CT)
• Kendra Horn (OK)
• Steven Horsford (NV)
• Chrissy Houlahan (PA)
• Bill Keating (MA)
• Derek Kilmer (WA), chairman
• Ron Kind (WI)
• Ann Kirkpatrick (AZ)
• Raja Krishnamoorthi (IL)
• Ann Kuster (NH), vice-chair
• Rick Larsen (WA)
• Brenda Lawrence (MI)
• Al Lawson (FL)
• Susie Lee (NV)
• Elaine Luria (VA)
• Tom Malinowski (NJ)
• Sean Patrick Maloney (NY)
• Ben McAdams (UT)
• Lucy McBath (GA)
• Donald McEachin (VA)
• Gregory Meeks (NY)
• Seth Moulton (MA)
• Debbie Mucarsel-Powell (FL)
• Stephanie Murphy (FL)
• Donald Norcross (NJ)
• Tom O'Halleran (AZ)
• Chris Pappas (NH)
• Ed Perlmutter (CO)
• Scott Peters (CA), vice-chair
• Dean Phillips (MN)
• Mike Quigley (IL)
• Kathleen Rice (NY)
• Cedric Richmond (LA)
• Max Rose (NY)
• Harley Rouda (CA)
• Raul Ruiz (CA)
• Adam Schiff (CA)
• Brad Schneider (IL)
• Kurt Schrader (OR)
• Kim Schrier (WA)
• David Scott (GA)
• Terri Sewell (AL), vice-chair
• Mike Sherrill (NJ)
• Elissa Slotkin (MI)
• Adam Smith (WA)
• Darren Soto (FL)
• Abigail Spanberger (VA)
• Greg Stanton (AZ)
• Haley Stevens (MI)
• Tom Suozzi (NY)
• Norma Torres (CA)
• Xochitl Torres-Small (NM)
• Lori Trahan (MA)
• David Trone (MD)
• Juan Vargas (CA)
• Marc Veasey (TX)
• Debbie Wasserman Schultz (FL)
• Jennifer Wexton (VA)
• Susan Wild (PA)

It's Wall Street financed, pro-corporate, anti-labor organization, but not every member is anti-worker-- or at least not every member can manifest anti-worker tendencies given the constituencies they represent. And these are the people, for the most part, who went whining to Pelosi and Bustos about being protected against primaries. Some aren't even members because of the ideology but because of the corruption, since the New Dems are the nexus of bribery in the House.

Now, with all that in mind, let's consider how the New Dems are leading the opposition to the progressive plan to pass a $15 minimum wage bill, which the Democrats can certainly do and which Democratic and independent (and even Republican) voters very much want. The big campaign contributors who pay for the cushy careers of the New Dems don't want it. Take a look at this polling of registered voters. The majority of Americans want that raise of $15, which Bernie has already proposed in the Senate and has integrated into his presidential platform and campaign.

According to these pollsters 70% of Republican voters want a higher federal wage floor, with 36% supporting $15 per hour. Thirty percent of GOP respondents said they wanted to keep the amount the same, reduce it or eliminate it. A majority of both Democratic (73%) and independent voters (53%) support a $15 rate. Minimum wage increases are broadly popular across all demographic groups. The $15 proposal was supported by a majority of all age groups in the Hill-HarrisX poll. Now read this carefully, because it's going to help you understand what the New Dems are all about and who they really are and why it's foolish to help get them elected:

Support for a higher minimum wage also is strong across the ideological spectrum. Seventy-seven percent of self-described "strong liberals" supported an increase to $15, as did 66 percent of respondents who said they lean liberal. Sixty percent of moderates backed the proposal as well.

Among those who described themselves as strongly conservative or leaning conservative, support for increasing the wage to $15 did not reach majority levels; however, a majority wanted an increase to an amount above $7.25.

Seventy-two percent of respondents who said they leaned conservative indicated they wanted an increase of some amount, as did 67 percent of strongly conservative respondents.

Eva Putzova, who is running for Congress against an "ex"-Republican Blue Dog/New Dem, Tom O'Halleran, is the chair of the Flagstaff Living Wage Coalition. She reminded us that "Not a single ballot measure raising the minimum wage has ever failed-- not in a blue state or a red state. In Flagstaff, we raised the minimum wage to $15 per hour through a local initiative that was on the same ballot in 2016 as the increase of the Arizona's state minimum wage to $12 per hour. Raising the minimum wage is simply what people want. When the Raise the Wage Act passes (and I hope it will), it will be the first time in the history of this country that at least one chamber of Congress legislates the full minimum wage for tipped workers, most of whom are women and many are people of color and immigrants. The federal subminimum tipped wage has been frozen at an exploitative $2.13 since 1991 thanks to the power, money and influence of the "other NRA." Living mostly off tips forces tipped workers to tolerate sexual harassment and leads to economic instability for millions of families across the country. If Congress cares more about working families and women than short-term corporate interests, $15 per hour will be the new minimum wage floor. In the long run, even corporations benefit from stronger consumer purchasing power that comes with higher wages and more economic security."

Writing for Politico yesterday, Sarah Ferris reported on the New Dem/Blue Dog push to kill the $15 minimum wage legislation, calling it a broadening rift between the party’s progressive and moderate members, insisting on calling the conservatives from the Republican wing of the party, "moderates," the most admired political term among American voters and an implication that progressives are something other than moderate-- like extreme or radical. That's ALWAYS the Beltway media. Watch how Ferris subtly frames the news against progressives, even knowing that a majority of Americans want to $15 minimum wage.

Progressive leaders in the House are attempting to stamp out a push by some red state Democrats to soften the party’s $15-an-hour minimum wage proposal, which they see as a betrayal of last fall’s campaign promises.

Leaders of the Congressional Progressive Caucus are now lobbying fellow Democrats to help extinguish a competing plan backed by more than a dozen moderates that would permit lower hourly wages in more rural areas. And they’re prepared to wield the power of the 96-member caucus to ensure their full $15-an-hour proposal reaches the floor.

“We want to pass a full $15 minimum wage bill. Not a regional bill. We’re very clear about that,” Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) said in an interview. “Being in Congress means leading, and we need to lead on minimum wage.”

Democratic leaders have publicly and privately committed to passing a universal $15-an-hour wage, a priority that they say helped deliver the House majority. But the idea is running into some resistance from moderates in red states like Georgia, Iowa and Alabama, who have balked at doubling the federal minimum wage over a five-year stretch because they fear it will cost jobs, and votes, back home.

And with the $15-an-hour proposal still short on votes, some progressives fear that Democratic leaders will be forced to soften their signature bill to win over moderates, even though it will still go nowhere in the Senate.

A group of Democrats, led by Rep. Terri Sewell of Alabama, plan to introduce their own bill Thursday morning that would create a “regional” minimum wage-- based on local cost of living-- instead. Thirteen Democrats have signed on as co-sponsors as of Wednesday afternoon, but that number could grow, according to Sewell’s office.

Sewell is a corrupt conservative who represents the 431st (out of 435) poorest district, in terms of median income. 64% of her constituents are African-Americans and the PVI is R+20. Do you think Blue America should tell her constituents with radio and TV ads that she's leading the fight against increasing the minimum wage to $15 on behalf of her corporate campaign donors? I suspect they wouldn't be all that pleased. A vice-chair of the New Dems, she's more loyal to them than to her own constituents. Just outrageous!

Supporters include freshmen Democrats like Rep. Lucy McBath of Georgia and Dean Phillips of Minnesota-- who is a small business owner who pays his own workers $15-an-hour but has said it is not a “one-size-fits-all wage.”

Sewell’s bill would dramatically slow the wage hikes in hundreds of smaller cities from Cincinnati to St. Louis compared to metropolis areas like San Francisco and New York.

But many other Democrats-- including House Education and Labor Committee Chairman Bobby Scott, the chief author of the $15-an-hour minimum wage bill-- detest the idea.

“Low income areas would be locked in to lower wages. We don’t have differentiated payments for Social Security,” the Virginia Democrat said in an interview.

The introduction of Sewell's bill on Thursday will intensify a brewing clash between progressives and some moderates that has taken mostly behind the scenes.

Tension erupted last month at a meeting of New Democrats Coalition, as Scott dismissed the idea of a regional bill-- in a roomful of moderates [not moderates-- conservatives], many of whom supported Sewell's bill-- as he sought to sell his own.

Supporters of Scott's bill-- including virtually all CPC members, who got a private briefing from Scott on the bill in January-- have argued that the competing proposal is costing votes and stalling the party’s hallmark $15-an-hour policy from reaching the floor.

“The regional minimum wage proposal is a clear attempt to water down the Raise the Wage Act,” an aide to one progressive member said. “Poverty wages shouldn’t be acceptable anywhere in America.”

Progressive leaders are now stepping up the pressure on Democratic leaders to fend off changes to the $15-an-hour bill, possibly hinting at the first time the CPC decides to go to the mat to defend a progressive priority.

So far in the majority, the CPC has mostly refrained from aggressive tactics to ensure their top agenda items make it to the floor. But some members and aides are eying the battle over the minimum wage bill as the first real test for Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her lieutenants to prove their commitment to a progressive agenda, even if it means cornering moderates on a difficult issue in their districts.

"We're getting to get a vote on the $15-an-hour. I think there's just too much pressure that's going to build up on our caucus to do that. That was the commitment," Rep. Raúl Grijalva (D-AZ) said in an interview. "We need to follow through on that."

They argue that Sewell's bill would also raise wages, only more slowly. Cities like El Paso, Texas, and Topeka, Kansas would need to raise their wages to $8.10 next year, while wages would jump to at least $10.60 in sprawling cities like San Francisco, Washington and New York City.

“More than doubling the wage over five years is going to result in lost jobs,” an aide to a member in favor of a regional wage bill said. “A lot of people would prefer to have a $10 wage than no job.”

Scott and other critics of the idea are quick to point out the flaws of the bill, as well, such as a congressional district in New Hampshire that would have three different minimum wages. Critics have also pointed out that Sewell's bill would result in sharp spikes in the minimum wage in certain areas, like a $3 increase in Virginia next year alone.

Some moderates have argued that Sewell's bill has interest from Republicans, unlike the Democrats' dream proposal, but long-time Democrats argue they need to send the message to their base.

“I think if it's not gonna go anywhere, I think we’ve got to make a statement. We’re for living wage everywhere,” said Rep. John Yarmuth (D-KY), who is a cosponsor of Scott's bill.

Marie Newman, a champion of a $15 minimum wage is working on a rematch with reactionary Blue Dog Dan Lipinski in a solid blue Chicagoland seat. She nearly beat him last time and his fellow Blue Dogs fear she will easily do so this cycle. This morning, she told us that "One of the things I am most proud of about my 2018 primary challenge to Dan Lipinski, is that we forced him to change his stance on $15/hr. He went from contending '$12 is enough', to signing on to the current $15/hr legislation in the last 6 weeks of the campaign. The district and I pushed him hard. It was worth it. I cannot stress how important this legislation is to our country. In an environment where 80% of the country is living paycheck to paycheck and we have an ever-escalating patchwork of jobs phenomenon (the situation where people must cobble 2-4 jobs together to make ends meet on a consistent basis), we need hardworking folks to be paid for their efforts. The dignity of work is our bedrock in the U.S. We must give hard work dignity. We must."

Tom Guild lives in a red district based around Oklahoma City. His freshman Rep, Kendra Horn, is a big disappointment to Democrats nd many have been urging Tom to primary her. I suspect that her posture on the minimum wage legislation is going to be a key determinant for him. Early this morning, he told us that "It’s easy for members of the U.S. Congress to pontificate on a $15 minimum wage. After all, each member of the U.S. House or Senate is guaranteed $285,000 in salary and benefits each year. They are guaranteed the same lofty compensation shortly after joining Congress, even if they are involuntarily retired from the House or Senate by voters who think they did a lousy job of representing them. For folks with a golden spoon in their mouths and a lucrative retirement to die for, it’s apparently easy to be hard. Phasing in a $15 minimum wage is the right thing to do. The longer we wait, we may need to phase in a much higher dollar amount. In Oklahoma, a relatively low cost of living state, $15 an hour would allow an individual to survive and to take an annual three day vacation-- to Tulsa! $7.25 an hour is a starvation wage. A person can’t survive anywhere in the country on $7.25 without roommates, second or third jobs, or a patron saint helping them along the way. It’s easy to be hard. It’s apparently easy to be hard-- especially if you have a guaranteed $285,000 job at taxpayer expense. It sounds suspiciously like “socialism” to me. It is way beyond time to bring hard working Americans, many of them single parents with hungry mouths to feed, up to a level where they are not living in poverty while working full time. If not now, when? If not us, who will do the right thing to help our beloved neighbors?"

If you know who Randy Bryce, you know that when it comes to working people, he knows what he;'s talking about. Last night, he told me that "Republicans view average citizens as 'money farms' instead of people. They all believe that they are destined to win the lottery and when they do-- you’d best be ready to help them maintain their lavish lifestyle. We have a few Democrats who also don’t seem to see things as the rest of us do. They view the .01% as benefactors who donate to their campaigns which allows them not to need a job that may require them getting their hands dirty. The same party that rails against socialism for people is fully complicit allowing corporations-- who they see as people-- to receive handouts. That doesn’t make any sense to me especially considering that we have an existing tax code that allows for loopholes that don’t require people to pay into the pot that their hands are continually taking things out of. When it comes to fair pay for a day’s work it shouldn’t be too much to ask for one full time job to be enough to pay one’s bills. A livable wage will keep people from needing government assistance but it won’t keep corporations from grabbing every penny that they can. What will it take to start seeing the companies that get tax breaks but refuse to pay their employees a fair wage as a freeloader instead of the woman or man trying to feed their child? Raising the minimum wage isn’t about getting wealthy. It’s about dignity. Every time I hear a rich CEO state that 'hard work has gotten me where I am,' I follow with the question" 'who’s hard work'?"

Is this part of why Hillary Clinton lost Pennsylvania, Ohio, Wisconsin, Michigan, Iowa, North Carolina...? Sewell and the New Dems are taking a position identical to the one that just about mandated that Hillary Clinton lose the 2016 election to... Trump.

UPDATE: From Texas

Mike Siegel: "I support a $15 minimum wage, period. We need a living wage for American workers, and $15 will be a strong step in the right direction. We need to address the massive wealth inequality in this country, and a $15 wage will help. We need to address homelessness, access to transportation, and mental health-- and $15 an hour make an impact. No one should be forced to work two and three jobs just to survive. Raising the minimum wage is one of the most important things we can do to guarantee the economic security of our workers."