If there’s one Republican senator who is not only totally useless but can always be expected to do the wrong thing, it’ll be Mitt Romney. Lisa Murkowski is a close runner-up, but Romney’s latest move is just more proof that this man remains a traitor to the party. He voted with Democrats to convict Trump in both of their impeachment efforts. The only group in Utah that truly likes the jobs he’s doing are the few Democrats who live there, and now he’s working with them to increase the minimum wage. Why Mitt? Why (via Huffington Post):
Sens. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) are in the process of crafting bipartisan legislation to increase the minimum wage, Romney confirmed to HuffPost on Wednesday.
“We’re negotiating a minimum wage proposal which we would ultimately take to our group of 20 and see how they would react to it and go from there,” Romney said, referring to a bipartisan group of 20 senators who are hoping to find ways to make the Senate function better.
The Utah senator declined to share more details about the proposal, including its timeline. A spokesperson for Sinema did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
“I think it’s $11,” Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) said when asked about the measure.
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A $15 minimum wage doesn’t even have full support among Senate Democrats, including Sinema and Manchin. Manchin has repeatedly said he would favor something closer to $11 per hour phased in over two years. Other Democrats, such as Sen. Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, have expressed concerns about how a $15 minimum wage would affect the restaurant industry.
Yes, Democrats attempted to add a minimum wage hike to the $1.9 trillion ‘COVID relief’ bill but was stopped by the Senate parliamentarian since the measure didn’t relate to budgetary matters. It also didn’t have the votes. And as the publication noted, even Democrats know that this measure could screw over their workers. It’s screwed over Seattle restaurant industry. New York as well. There’s a reason why USA Today’s editorial board took a take it slow approach since studies were showing that workers’ hours were cut and job opportunities limited due to the wage hikes. In short, it made workers poorer.
In fact, the $15/hour hike Democrats want will gut 1.4 million jobs. Defenders of the hike take the odd approach of saying how these job losses also come with raising 900,000 out of poverty. How does killing 1.4 million jobs raise people out of poverty? Well, Mitt Romney appears to be willing to participate in this economic experiment for which we all know the outcome.