GOP Candidates Are "Out to Lunch" on the Minimum Wage: Raja

Eighth District Democratic congressional candidate Raja Krishnamoorthi today charged that the Republican presidential candidates are “out to lunch” on the question of raising the federal minimum wage.

In their latest televised debate in Milwaukee last night, not one of the eight candidates on stage supported an increase in the minimum wage, which has been set at $7.25 an hour since 1997.

“These people are out to lunch – and not at a fast-food restaurant,” said Raja, noting that fast food workers across the country protested yesterday for a raise in the minimum wage.

“The Republican candidates argue that wages are too high, which makes our country uncompetitive,” Raja said. “The truth is that no one can support a family on the current federal minimum. Raising that wage will help more families to move into the middle-class, and their spending will help grow our economy as a whole.”

Raja is a former Deputy Illinois State Treasurer and small businessman who just received an award for his leadership and deep experience in the public and private sectors.

Earlier in his campaign, he put forward a Working Families Agenda to help more families to achieve a middle-class life and economic security. Specifically, the plan would:

Raise the federal minimum wage to $10.10 an hour and link future increases to inflation;

Enact into law President Obama’s executive order that workers earning less than $50,000 automatically qualify for overtime pay;

Require paid maternity leave for all women in the workforce;

Expand the federal child tax credit to help working families with the cost of raising children.

“What these Republican presidential candidates fail to consider is that our economy is about people,” Raja said. “If hard work doesn’t pay, then working families can’t get ahead.”

Raja Krishnamoorthi currently serves as President of Sivananthan Labs and Episolar, Inc., small businesses that sell products in the national security and renewable energy industries. He is a co-founder of InSPIRE, a non-profit organization that provides training to Illinois students and veterans in solar technology, and was formerly Vice-Chairman of the Illinois Innovation Council, whose mission is to promote innovative technologies that support economic growth and job creation in Illinois. Raja resides in Schaumburg with his wife, Priya, and their two sons.