[ad_1]
Representative Pramila Jayapal said on Wednesday that when she feared a minimum wage of $ 15 was about to be cut from President Biden’s COVID relief program, she and her staff urged the White House to have the back of progressives on Twitter. Biden tweeted within the hour.
Why is this important: Former President Trump was famous for his use of Twitter, especially to advance his own causes and beliefs, but now Democrats are taking advantage of a new intimidation chair to explode their narratives and policies to the masses.
Progressives believe that successfully shaping a political narrative, they can significantly influence politics – especially since some of their more moderate colleagues in the Democratic Senate like Sen. Joe Manchin have their own power to blunt momentum and key items on the agenda. from the left.
- “We’ve tried to be more deliberate on … deciding what our demands are for any bill, early on, and then distilling them into three or four or five key priorities for the Progressive Caucus,” said Jayapal. “And we’re trying to better send out these talking points every week that people can message.”
- Jayapal has championed raising the federal minimum wage to $ 15 for years. In 2014, she was appointed to the Seattle Mayor’s Task Force on Income Inequality, which developed a successful proposal to increase the city’s minimum wage that year.
- The Congressional Progressive Caucus, led by Jayapal, also made clear in a letter last week to Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer that including the $ 15 minimum wage in the package COVID is non-negotiable.
What they say: Jayapal (D-Wash.) Released the story on Twitter Wednesday morning at a Congressional Progressive Caucus meeting. The Zoom call was joined by over 140 members and employees.
- “I called the White House, our staff called the White House, and I said, ‘We want the president to step in with a tweet about the importance of putting $ 15 in the reconciliation package,'” he said. she declared.
- The White House responded almost immediately, with a tweet from @POTUS: “It’s high time we raised the minimum wage to $ 15 an hour. The American Rescue Plan will do it.”
Senator Bernie Sanders led The Senate’s efforts to include the federal minimum wage increase in the Biden package.
- A person familiar with his approach told Axios that Sanders was pursuing an “inside-outside” strategy.
- He wants to make sure he’s included in the final package by engaging with the Senate parliamentarian, defending the measure in cable talks and joining calls from the Congressional Progressive Caucus to discuss the issue.
[ad_2]
Source link