Red states will suffer most from GOP's fight against minimum wage hike: analysis

Writing in the Washington Post this Friday Greg Sargent, contends that if there's anything the minimum wage debate has revealed, it's how "extraordinarily prevalent low-wage labor is in the United States today."

Citing a Brookings Institution analysis that found approximately 24 million people would see their wages rise if the federal minimum wage were lifted to $15 per hour by 2025, Sargent write that it's a stark reminder of how many Americans stand to be left behind if the minimum wage hike is not included in President Biden's economic rescue bill.

"Of the 23.8 million people whose 2019 wages would be lifted with a federal hike, around 12.4 million reside in the 22 states with two Republican senators, Brookings found," Sargent writes. "That number is more significant than it seems, since those states tend to be less populous."

While it's true that some red states have raised their minimum wage, none (except Florida) are on track to $15, according to Sargent. "That means a lot of people in red states that have raised their minimum wages will still get left behind by Congress's failure."

"It's true that some progressives are angry at the Democratic leadership over this failure: They want Democrats to get around the Senate parliamentarian's ruling that the hike can't pass via a simple majority by reconciliation," Sargent continues. "But even if they did, there aren't 50 Democratic votes to pass it."

Read the full op-ed over at The Washington Post.