Senator John Thune, opposing a minimum wage of $ 15, says he made $ 6 as a child, or $ 24 with inflation

In a tweet expressing his opposition to raising the national minimum wage to $ 15 an hour, Republican Senator from South Dakota John Thune said he made $ 6 an hour working at a restaurant as a “child”. Adjusted for modern inflation, it would be $ 24 an hour today.

Republicans in Congress have widely opposed the Democratic proposal to increase the minimum wage. They argue that a wage hike will hurt small businesses that have already been economically harmed during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

“I started working drinking tables at the Star Family Restaurant for $ 1 / hour and slowly moved on to cook – big leagues for a kid like me – to earn $ 6 / hour,” Thune wrote. in a Wednesday night tweet. “Small town businesses survive on narrow margins. To demand a minimum wage of $ 15 would bankrupt them.”

I started working drinking tables at the Star Family Restaurant for $ 1 / hour and slowly moved on to cook – big leagues for a kid like me – earning $ 6 / hour. Small town businesses survive on narrow margins. Imposing a minimum wage of $ 15 would put many of them out of business. pic.twitter.com/izQDOGRAH1

– Senator John Thune (@SenJohnThune) February 24, 2021

It’s unclear what years Thune worked at the restaurant in his hometown of Murdo, South Dakota, where he attended high school.

However, Thune was born in 1961. Assuming he was making $ 6 an hour by the age of 17 – the last year one is still considered a non-adult under the national age of. consent, which is 18 – the year would have been 1978.

A wage of $ 6 an hour in 1978, adjusted for modern inflation rates, would equal $ 24.07 an hour in 2021. A person earning $ 24.07 an hour, working 40 hours a week and 52 weeks per year would earn over $ 50,000 per year before taxes.

Someone working the same hours and earning the Democrats’ proposed salary of $ 15 an hour would earn just over $ 31,200 per year, before taxes. A person working the same hours and earning the current national minimum wage of $ 7.25 an hour would earn just over $ 15,080 per year, before taxes. The Department of Health and Human Services lists the poverty line for a one-person household in the 48 contiguous states and the District of Columbia is $ 12,880 per year.

On Monday, Republican Senators Tom Cotton of Arkansas and Mitt Romney of Utah introduced a national minimum wage plan of $ 10. It’s called the Higher Wages for American Workers Act. The GOP plan would gradually increase the federal minimum wage from its current rate of $ 7.25 per hour to $ 10 per hour by 2025.

A person earning the GOP’s proposed salary of $ 10 an hour, working 40 hours a week and 52 weeks a year would earn more than $ 20,800 a year before taxes.

The plan has been criticized by Democratic lawmakers and others for being below the minimum wage in Cotton’s home state – $ 11 an hour.

Romney and Cotton’s plan would raise wages only about 3% of American workers, compared to 21.2% of workers under the Democratic proposal, according to an analysis released Wednesday by the Economic Policy Institute.

Senate Budget Committee Chairman Bernie Sanders and Democratic Illinois Senator Dick Durbin have both pledged to support the passage of the $ 15 hourly minimum wage through a process called reconciliation. budget, which would bypass the need for Republican support.

However, even that procedure would require a majority of House Democrats and all Senate Democrats to approve the measure, and West Virginia Democratic Senator Joe Manchin has said he will not help pass the bill. measure without Republican support. Manchin said he supported the wage increase, calling the current $ 7.25 an hour “poverty wages”.

Some progressive Democrats may also be opposed, arguing that a minimum wage increase should be more than $ 15 an hour. As proof, they cited studies that show that only a handful of states have affordable one-bedroom apartments for those who work 40 hours with an hourly wage of $ 15.

On February 1, Republicans in Congress introduced their own $ 618 billion economic stimulus bill that completely removed any mention of a minimum wage hike.

In response, Biden said he “won’t be satisfied” with his pandemic relief bill.

Newsweek contacted Thune’s office for comment.