Tuesday on CNN, Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and conservative economist Douglas Holtz-Eakin debated the effects of raising the minimum wage.

President Barack Obama has called on Congress to raise the federal minimum wage from $7.25 to $9 per hour. The minimum wage was last raised from $5.15 in 2007 to $7.25 in 2009.

Holtz-Eakin contended that raising the minimum wage would raise unemployment by discouraging employers from hiring more workers.

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“Where would the money come from?” he wondered.

Sanders argued that it was wrong that massive companies like Wal-Mart were essentially receiving huge amounts of government welfare. Since Wal-Mart paid their employees a “starvation wage” with no benefits, they ended up on taxpayer-funded programs like Medicaid and food stamps.

“I’m proposing that the wealthiest family in this country, the Walton family that owns Wal-Mart, not be subsidized by the middle class in this country,” Sanders said. “They’ve got to start paying their workers a living wage, not starvation wages, provide health care to their workers, not enable them to go on Medicaid.”

Watch video, uploaded to YouTube, below: