Bernie Sanders hopes to work with Donald Trump on key issue
Senator Bernie Sanders said Sunday morning that he hopes to work with President-elect Donald Trump to raise the federal minimum wage, which has not increased since 2009.
Sanders, an independent senator from Vermont who caucuses with the Democratic Party, told NBC News’ Kristen Welker on Meet the Press “I surely hope so” when asked about working with Trump to raise it.
In an interview with Welker earlier in this month, Trump acknowledged the federal minimum wage is low saying, “It’s a very low number.”
The last federal minimum increase was in 2009 when the wage jumped up from $6.55 per hour to $7.25 per hour.
Sanders, who advocates for working class policies, told Welker, “I tried two years ago to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour. We got zero, not one Republican supported it.”
Despite the failed effort, the senator said, “I hope that we can work in a bipartisan way to finally accomplish that goal” of increasing the minimum.
He also called the current wage an “absolutely disgrace,” adding, “We have millions of people in this country who are working for starvation wages that cannot afford housing, that cannot afford to adequately feed their kids.”
Sanders says he would advocate for the wage to be $17 per hour. It is unclear, however, what number Trump would support.
This is a developing story and will be updated with additional details and information.
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