Received this e-mail today from former Governor Ted Strickland’s (D. OH) U.S. Senate campaign:
Ted Strickland (D. OH)
Every Ohioan trying to support their family will tell you the same thing: It's getting harder and harder to keep up with the cost of living. A place to raise a family, putting food on the kitchen table, sending your kids to college, and retirement security -- it has all gotten more expensive.
We're getting squeezed, and it's especially hard for people living on the minimum wage. I tried living on the minimum wage for a week, but despite my best efforts, I didn't make it. For many hardworking Americans, that's their reality every week.
It has been nine whole years since the last legislation was passed to increase the federal minimum wage -- which now stands at $7.25 an hour, or barely $15,000 a year for a full-time worker. Why hasn't the minimum wage increased? Because while the billionaire class gets richer, Rob Portman and his Republican colleagues refuse to act, leaving hourly workers out in the cold.
It's one of the clearest examples of Rob Portman's skewed priorities, and it's up to all of us to tell him he's wrong. So I'm asking for your help to put the pressure on Portman to raise the federal minimum wage to at least $12 an hour. Will you join me?
Call on Rob Portman to support a fair federal minimum wage >>
It's simply un-American for anyone who works full-time not to be able to keep a roof over their head and food on the table, but that's becoming more and more common. Especially at a time of unprecedented wealth for the 1%.
That's why I'm fighting to raise the federal minimum wage to at least $12 an hour, which would result in a raise for more than 35 million Americans and increase wages by nearly $80 million.
In Ohio alone, it would put $2,200 in the hands of 1,343,000 workers every year. That would transform lives, grow our economy, and help alleviate poverty.
Increasing the minimum wage is good for workers, it's good for families, and it's good for the economy. As Ohio's governor and a U.S. Representative, I fought to increase our minimum wage and to expand wage protections, and in the U.S. Senate you better believe that I will fight at every turn to increase the federal minimum wage and put more money in the pockets of hardworking families.
But right now, we need all of us to call on Portman and Republicans in the Senate to support a fair federal minimum wage. Will you sign my petition?
Support a fair federal minimum wage increase >>
Thanks,
Ted
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