“Put your money where your mouth is,” the saying goes. And eighteen Florida state lawmakers, Democrats all, intend to do just that, according to Tampa Bay CBS affiliate WTSP. In support of their support for increasing the state minimum wage to $15 — nearly double the current rate of $8.05 — the group has agreed to live on $17 a day.
The amount, the legislators calculated, is what a full-time minimum wage worker in the Sunshine State currently can expect to have in his pocket after basic living expenses are deducted.
It is not clear what is meant by “basic living expenses,” since Sen. Dwight Bullard — a sponsor of the bill that to raise the minimum wafe and one of the participants in the challenge — explained that the $17 would be used to “cover food, transportation, and anything else they might need” … which sound like basic living expenses.
But let’s not lose sight of these legislators’ selflessness and heroism. They deserve admiration of all for the Mother Teresa-like sacrifices they have agreed to make — or would be if their hunger strike were open-ended. It is not. The participants will subsist on $17 through Friday: five days! After that, they go back to their daily stipend of $129.
