This season’s crop of Republican presidential candidates continued their attacks on women this week. The latest assault comes from Senator Ted Cruz, who seems to content to keep women (and the rest of the working poor) from earning a living wage.
The GOP has made it clear they are against any hike in the federal minimum wage. So it comes as no surprise that the GOP presidential candidates are speaking out against the growing movement towards a reasonable, livable wage. However, it is apparently too much to ask these guys to get their facts straight when making their point.
Less than 24 hours after both Democratic presidential candidates pledged their support to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour, Cruz spoke to CNBC, where he blasted the idea.
“Every time we raise the minimum wage, predictably what happens is a significant number of people lose their jobs, and they’re almost always low-income, they’re often teenagers, African Americans and Hispanics,” Cruz said.
Cruz can be applauded for being a faithful servant of the national GOP talking points. The problem is that the facts don’t support the argument. According to an analysis of 64 different studies on the effects of raising minimum wage and employment, there is “little or no evidence of a negative association between minimum wages and employment.”
Another study by the Economic Policy Institute actually found that raising the minimum wage would grow the economy. That study concluded that even if the minimum wage was raised to only $10.10 an hour, the US economy would experience a GDP bump of over $20 billion. And these findings are not isolated. Another study by the Chicago Fed in 2013 reached similar conclusions.
Which only begs the question: Why are Republican presidential candidates consistently against helping the American worker?
Stop me if you heard this one before … The GOP is hostile towards women and other minorities. This is not simply a harrow accusation from the Left. More and more, it’s a fact that is backed up by evidence. The party that has made headlines this election season with controversy after controversy involving attacks on women is determined to keep a disproportionate number of women and other minorities working for a servant’s wages.
Starting with the unwarranted attacks from Donald Trump against fellow candidate Carly Fiorina’s “looks” to his verbal war with Fox News’ anchor Megyn Kelly as well as his racist and xenophobic rhetoric, the GOP front-runner has made his sexist and racist leanings well known. Cruz, for his part, is one of the most vocal proponents of rolling back women’s healthcare by defunding Planned Parenthood (a measure that failed in Congress but is gaining momentum in many states).
Now with their continued resistance to facts and the growing segment of America that favors increasing the minimum wage, the GOP has dug in their heels. To discount their position on the issues is to continue to discount the facts.
As the chart below illustrates, women, and disproportionately women of color, make up more than three-fourths of the “low-wage workforce.” An increase in the federal minimum wage would help women more than men. Certainly more than the white men and the Wall Street bankers who make the core of the GOP’s most dependable voters.
Still not convinced the GOP’s blockade of a reasonable minimum wage is about women? Remember that less than two years ago it was the GOP in Congress who voted unanimously to block the “Equal Pay Bill.”
Trump, Cruz, and the GOP establishment may differ on some issues, but they must take solace in knowing that on women’s rights, they have unity.
Featured Image by Eduardo Munoz Alvarez/Getty Images
