President Obama Hits Maryland Costco to Stock Up on Support

A Maryland Costco -- everyone’s go-to spot for stocking up on pretzels, toilet paper and liquor – was where President Barack Obama shopped for votes Wednesday.

“It’s time to give America a raise,” President Obama said this week in the State of the Union address, and again when speaking to Costco employees in Lanham.

Costco employees on average earn $20 an hour and start at $11.50 an hour.

He’s lobbying Congress to increase the minimum wage, something Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley is also trying to do. Some Maryland counties have already acted on a similar measure.

In Congress, there’s a bill to lift the federal minimum wage from $7.25 an hour to $10.10, reports WJZ.com.

“Governor O’Malley is trying to do it here in Maryland and lift the minimum wage to $10.10. He says, `We all do better when we’re all doing better,’” Obama said. “He’s right.”

The president got support from the crowd, most of them Costco employees, the TV station says.

“You get better quality people. They want to work hard for the company because they get the good benefits, they get the good pay,” Costco employee David Ulbig told WJZ.

The president said during the State of the Union that he will sign an executive order raising the minimum wage for some government contract workers.

>>Watch full coverage of President Obama's Costco visit: http://baltimore.cbslocal.com/2014/01/29/obama-to-speak-about-minimum-wage-at-maryland-costco/