A $15 minimum wage is just the start.

The federal minimum wage is $7.25 per hour.

... $7.25.

That's awful. Absolutely awful.

No one in America, working full-time, can reasonably survive — let alone get ahead — making that wage. It's an insulting relic and a testament to the imbalance of our economy.

That's why I'm proud to stand with Democrats in Congress and progressive activists across America demanding a $15 minimum wage.

Here's a not-at-all-fun fact: The minimum wage hasn't gone up in eleven years.

Another fact: Over the last eleven months, America's billionaires raised their net worth by nearly one trillion dollars. That number is a mind-boggling testament to how top-heavy things have become, especially when you consider that in the same time period:

More than 70 million people in our country lost their jobs;

Nearly 100,000 small businesses closed permanently;

Total work income of the bottom 82% of the workforce declined.

In other words, a $15 per hour for a minimum wage is downright modest. It shouldn't be controversial. Still, the ultra-wealthy and those who were sad to see Donald Trump go are going to do everything they can to stop us.

I will fight for this with every ounce of my being. It's absolutely unconscionable that our country asks "essential" workers to risk their lives by working through the pandemic, while refusing to pay them enough to live.