Staff Reports
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a member of the House of Representatives from New York, criticized Republicans for not supporting increasing the minimum wage. According to a fact-check by Twitter, both parties have not raised the minimum wage significantly over the last decade.
In response to a Republican Party tweet, which claimed that about 60% of workers are struggling with paying their bills, the New York Democrat said that the GOP was at fault for not passing a bill that would raise the federal minimum wage in 2021.
In response, she said that despite the fact that seven Democrats in the House of Representatives voted against a bill that would have increased the minimum wage in 2021, it still failed to pass the Senate.
A fact-check was conducted by Twitter to clarify the context of her statement. The last time the federal minimum wage was increased was in 2009, when it was raised to $7.25 an hour.
The fact-check noted that despite the opposition from Republicans, the effort to raise the minimum wage in 2021 had bipartisan support. The bill passed the House with the support of three Republicans and one independent.
Despite the federal minimum wage, several states have their own minimum wage that is higher than the federal rate. For instance, in Hawaii, the minimum wage is at $12 an hour, while in California it is at $14.
