Michael Bennet on Jobs Democratic Presidential Challenger; CO Senator

Hasn't supported a national $15 hourly minimum wage

Raise the federal minimum wage to $12/hour

No candidates have similar views.

Colorado Sen. Michael Bennet has not signed on as a co-sponsor to Democrats' Raise the Wage Act, but he does call for raising the minimum wage on his campaign website. A senior campaign official confirmed to POLITICO that Bennet supports raising the federal minimum wage to $12 per hour and "encouraging higher-cost cities and states to increase to $15 based on what makes sense for their local economic conditions." Bennet agrees with raising the federal minimum wage to $15 over time, but "at a rate that won't jeopardize jobs in lower-cost rural areas or struggling cities," according to the official.

Opposes Employee Free Choice Act & card-check

Raise the minimum wage to $10.10 per hour by 2016.

Congressional summary: Increases the federal minimum wage for employees to:

1. $8.20 an hour beginning 6 months after enactment
2. $9.15 an hour beginning 1 year later,
3. $10.10 an hour beginning 2 years later, and
4. an amount determined by increases in the Consumer Price Index, beginning annually after 3 years.

• Increases the federal minimum wage for tipped employees to $3.00 an hour beginning 6 months after enactment, with annual CPI adjustments.

Proponent`s argument in favor (RaiseTheMinimumWage.com): The federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour remains decades out of date, and the federal minimum wage for tipped workers--$2.13 per hour--has not increased in over 20 years. The minimum wage of the past provided significantly more buying power than it does today. The minimum wage of $1.60 an hour in 1968 would be $10.56 today when adjusted for inflation.

Opponent`s argument against: (Neil King in Wall Street Journal, Feb. 24, 2014): The CBO concluded that a jump in the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour could eliminate 500,000 jobs. For Republicans, the report provided ammunition that a higher minimum wage would kill jobs. Democrats pointed to the CBO`s findings that the higher wage would lift 900,000 people out of poverty. But both sides missed a key finding: That a smaller hike from the current $7.25 to $9.00 an hour would cause almost no pain, and still lift 300,000 people out of poverty while raising the incomes of 7.6 million people.

Congressional Budget Office report: Once fully implemented, the $10.10 option would reduce total employment by about 500,000 workers, or 0.3%. Some people earning slightly more than $10.10 would also have higher earnings, due to the heightened demand for goods and services. The increased earnings for low-wage workers would total $31 billion. Accounting for all increases and decreases, overall real income would rise by $2 billion.

Sponsored bill for strengthening union organizing.

H.R.842 & S.420: Protecting the Right to Organize Act: This bill expands various labor protections related to employees` rights to organize and collectively bargain in the workplace:

1. revises the definitions of employee, supervisor, and employer to broaden the scope of individuals covered by the fair labor standards;
2. permits labor organizations to encourage participation of union members in strikes initiated by employees represented by a different labor organization (i.e., secondary strikes); and
3. prohibits employers from bringing claims against unions that conduct such secondary strikes.

Biden Administration in SUPPORT: The Administration strongly supports The PRO Act. America was not built by Wall Street. It was built by the middle class, and unions built the middle class. Unions put power in the hands of workers. H.R. 842 would strengthen and protect workers` right to form a union by assessing penalties on employers who violate workers` right to organize.

Rep. Mo Brooks in OPPOSITION: H.R. 842 [is] a radical union bill that tramples the rights of citizens by forcing them to enter into union servitude, including:

• Overturns right-to-work laws in 27 states, thereby forcing citizens, against their will, to pay millions of dollars in dues to labor unions.
• Denies citizens` rights to vote by secret ballot on whether to join a union by imposing a biased `card-check` scheme.
• Deprives individuals of entrepreneurial opportunities. The PRO Act would eliminate the franchise industry and sharing economy as we know them.