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Trump, and his narcissism and authoritarianism, are out of the White House.

The impeachment trial, which garnered 57 votes to convict, is over.

Now, if we're going to address the desperation facing working families and strengthen our democracy, we must focus like a laser on the needs of the American people.

And, at the top of my agenda, is the need to raise the minimum wage to a living wage of $15 an hour.

The task at hand is not to please newspaper editorial boards, talk show pundits or to create bipartisanship — it is to address the needs of the American people, millions of whom are working two or three jobs just to put food on the table and a roof over their head.

It has been 12 years since workers have seen an increase in the federal minimum wage, and Democrats now have the opportunity to deliver long-overdue relief.

Raising the minimum wage isn’t about me, and it’s not about any other senator. It’s about people who are struggling. It is about half of our people who are living paycheck to paycheck, many of whom are working 40 hours a week and, at the end of the week, are worse off than when they began.

Here are just three of the thousands upon thousands of stories we’ve heard from people over the years on this issue:

"As a single mother of two, a $15 minimum wage would mean being able to sleep at night instead of spending countless sleepless hours worrying about how I'm going to keep a roof over my children's heads and food on the table.”
“If the minimum wage were to be raised to $15 an hour, I would not have to work nights and days just to make ends meet. I have a girlfriend, we would like to start a family, but because of finances, this is out of the question."
"Right now I am making $9.50 an hour. Unfortunately, this is the highest paying job I have ever had and it still is not enough to help me become stable. I was forced to move back in with my mother, which is causing her stress as well because she has to still take care of me after she has already raised 8 children. I feel like a burden and that I should be out on my own, but I'm not.”
We get stories like this all the time. We get them from Arizona where the minimum wage is $12.15 an hour. We get them from West Virginia where the minimum wage is $8.75 an hour. And we get them from every single state in between where the minimum wage is nothing more than a starvation wage.

People are facing more desperation now than at any point since the Great Depression, and they need their elected officials to help. Our legislation would give more than 32 million low-wage workers a raise, and the typical worker who would benefit is a 35-year-old woman who has gone to college and works full-time.

As Chair of the Budget Committee, I am committed to raising the minimum wage during the coming debate over budget reconciliation. We are going to mobilize our supporters like we did during our presidential campaign — but this time it won’t be to win an election, it will be to win a raise for our neighbors, and even for people we don’t know, who need it desperately.

But I can’t do that alone:

Please make a contribution to help us mobilize supporters in all fifty states to encourage their senators to support raising the minimum wage to a living wage of $15 an hour.

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A $15 minimum wage is not only a popular idea and the right and moral thing to do — it is good policy. It is also a promise that Biden and Democrats have made for a number of years. Now is not the time to renege on promises. It is time to keep them. It is time to stand up for working families.

Now is the time to deliver.

In solidarity,

Bernie Sanders

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