Grimes: Fight To Raise Minimum Wage

In a Sunday op-ed in the Louisville Courier-Journal, Democratic Senate candidate Alison Lundergan Grimes went after Sen. Mitch McConnell over the GOP's refusal to even consider raising the minimum wage.

Times may be tough, but I am running for the U.S. Senate because I believe Kentucky's best days are still ahead of us. It starts with leaders who will start working for Kentucky again. That begins with raising the minimum wage.

President Clinton once said that raising the minimum wage is "pro-work, pro-business and pro-family." I share his view and have made clear since entering the race, we must raise the minimum wage for all Kentuckians to strengthen the middle class and help our people — including over 250,000 Kentucky women — provide for their families and put food on the table.

Those against raising Kentuckians' wages, including my opponent Mitch McConnell, defend the status quo by falsely claiming that it would cost the economy jobs. But taking a step back and looking at the facts — a very different picture is presented. Historically, raising the minimum wage has created jobs and boosted the economy. This time, economists who have studied this issue at length have found that increasing the minimum wage now will cut unemployment again and once more create jobs.

Kentucky includes some of the poorest counties in America, with median incomes well below the national average.

Indeed, the nonpartisan Kentucky Center for Economic Policy (KCEP) released a report just last year detailing the economic benefit that raising the minimum wage would have. The KCEP found that a minimum wage increase to $10.10 an hour would create 2,200 jobs right here in Kentucky, boost earnings for hundreds of thousands of hardworking Kentuckians, and grow the commonwealth's GDP by over $500 million.

Critics also claim that the minimum wage is an issue that solely affects teenagers. In reality, nearly 90 percent of Kentuckians who would see their earnings go up from a minimum wage increase are 20 years of age or older.

Furthermore, nearly 30 percent of those who would benefit from increased wages have children. As the UK Center for Poverty Research notes, minimum wage workers head an increasing number of households today.

Raising the minimum wage is also wildly popular here in the state, with 61% of Kentuckians wanting to raise the minimum wage.  This is a good issue for Grimes to attack on, and hopefully it will continue to help her campaign.