Fox NewsPresident Obama, in the first of potentially many executive actions tied to his State of the Union address, will unilaterally increase the minimum wage for workers under new federal contracts to $10.10 an hour, from $7.25, in an effort to build momentum for a minimum wage hike for all Americans.
The executive order, which has been championed by progressive Democratic lawmakers, applies to all contractors performing services for the federal government and would effect more than 2 million employees, according to an administration official.
The president will use Tuesday night’s address to press Congress to pass a Democratic plan to increase the federal wage to $10.10 over three years, then indexing it to inflation, while also raising the minimum wage for tipped workers, the official said.
The president, who does not have the power to unilaterally raise the minimum wage for private sector workers, used last year’s State of the Union speech to call for a federal minimum wage hike.
“Let’s declare that in the wealthiest nation on Earth, no one who works full-time should have to live in poverty and raise the federal minimum wage to $9 an hour,” the president said to applause in his 2013 address.
The executive order affects only future contracts, not existing ones, and would only apply to contract renewals if other terms of the agreement changed. As a result, the order would benefit far fewer workers than the number foreseen by advocates of federal contract employees.
In December, Reps. Keith Ellison, D-Minn., and Raul Grijalva, D-Ariz., co-chairmen of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, wrote the president urging him to take the “bold step” of signing an executive order to increase wages for federal contractors,GovExec.com reported.
At the time, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney issued a lukewarm response when asked about the lawmakers’ request, according to the report.
“This has always been done legislatively. And it has been done with support from Republicans and not just Democrats in the past,” Carney said.
Obama, in an effort to avoid the appearance of being a lame duck president, is expected to use Tuesday’s State of the Union address to make clear his intentions to use his executive powers to achieve his goals when Congress fails to pass legislation.
Minimum wage is a perennial issue that has taken on a higher profile amid the slowly recovering economy and growing public debate about income inequality. A Quinnipiac University poll this month found 71 percent of Americans in favor of raising the minimum wage — including more than half of Republicans polled.
Five states passed minimum wage measures last year, and advocates hope that number will grow as states from New Hampshire to Washington consider proposals. Many would push families above the federal poverty line, which is $15,730 for a family of two. In Iowa, a bill would hike the minimum wage from $7.25 an hour to $10.10.
Democrats across the political spectrum have lobbied for a higher minimum wage this year, after Obama got the ball rolling on the issue by calling for an increase in his February budget speech. Since then, union-organized demonstrations in front of profitable mega-chains such as Wal-Mart and McDonald’s have kept it in the public eye.
Fox News’ Ed Henry and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
How about a F`n maximum wage. Ya see, the only thing that raising the minimum wage will do is raise the prices of everything else and that is it. Not only that but there are many many employers that will start out at just above the minimum wage and the will gise you maybe a .10 raise every so many months. Most employers realy do not care about what the minimum wage is one bit as they will just raise the prices of what they are producing or they will start laying off people. Simple as that….. How about eliminating the minimum wage and then those cheep employers will be run out of business because how little they pay and the employesse will go on to a less cheep employer.
Screw your executive orders, Obama. No one gives a rat’s ass what you do or say anymore.
That moron’s on death row and he doesn’t even know it. It’ll be very entertaining to see him ripped to shreds by an angry mob, and if he doesn’t start appeasing the population real soon, that will be his unavoidable fate.
You don’t have to arrest him, or list his crimes, or compile evidence. Just stand out of the way and let nature take its course. He and that thing he’s “married” to will get the Mussolini treatment, or worse.
“President Obama, in the first of potentially many executive actions tied to his State of the Union address, will unilaterally increase the minimum wage for workers under new federal contracts to $10.10 an hour, from $7.25, in an effort to build momentum for a minimum wage hike for all Americans.”
Notice how he always makes an order on just one type of group but not on everyone as a whole. How Communist of him. Why not set the minimum wage for ALL American people, not just Federal Workers? Are you trying to get us to get mad and fight the federal workers now that they have a higher minimum wage than we do instead of fighting you who created and signed this mess in the first place? Do you really think we are that stupid? Is this your way of promoting jobs for the government instead of for we the people? Typical. He never does anything for everyone, other than for himself and his elitist minions. He only knows how to make war on paper using class conflict and social inequality. Hang the Communist bastard!
Not like Minimum wage hike will do a damn thing for anyone anyways, seeing as how our economy is collapsing as we speak.