John Shinkle/POLITICO Sanders pushes $15 federal minimum wage

Bernie Sanders rallied fellow members of Congress, supporters, fast-food workers and labor advocates outside the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday for a bill he introduced that would raise the federal minimum wage to $15 per hour.

“The current federal minimum wage is a starvation wage. It’s got to be raised to a living wage,” the independent Vermont senator and Democratic presidential candidate said at the event at the Upper Senate Park, which drew a very loud and boisterous crowd.


Currently, the federal minimum wage is $7.25 per hour.

Sanders urged President Barack Obama to sign an executive order “so that every federal contract worker in this country is paid a living wage with good benefits and the ability to join a union,” according to a copy of his prepared remarks.

The remarks come as Sanders continues to make gains against Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton in the polls, though the former secretary of state remains comfortably in the lead. Clinton, who has been trying to counter Sanders’ progressive momentum, has called for raising the minimum wage but so far has declined to specifically endorse the $15 level.

Former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley also endorsed the $15 minimum wage on Wednesday, “because it will lift millions of families out of poverty and create better customers for American businesses,” he said in a statement.

Sanders on Wednesday was joined by Capitol complex food service workers, like Senate cafeteria worker Charles Gladden, who recounted his inability to pay rent because of low wages. Another woman, Sontia Bailey, joining Sanders onstage said that she also worked 70 hours a week at the Capitol and at a KFC to pay her bills. As she told her story, Sanders looked down and shook his head.

“The people who serve our food and clean our offices should not be forced to work two or three jobs just to pay the bills,” Sanders said.

“Today, we send a very loud and clear message to the United States Congress, to the president of the United States and to corporate America,” Sanders said. “In the richest country on the face of the Earth, no one who works 40 hours a week should be living in poverty.”

Seung Min Kim contributed to this report.