Contact: Cat Ulrich
cat@emccommunications.com, (202) 630-7839

Midwest business owner joins House and Senate leaders today to introduce the Raise the Wage Act; business leaders across the country also voice support for raising the federal minimum wage to $15 by 2025

Jan. 26, 2021— Mike Draper, owner of Raygun LLC, a clothing, home goods and printing company headquartered in Des Moines, Iowa, joins House Committee on Education and Labor Chairman Bobby Scott (VA-03), incoming Senate HELP (Health, Education, Labor and Pensions) Committee Chair Patty Murray (D-WA), incoming Senate Budget Committee Chair Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Congressional Progressive Caucus Chair Pramila Jayapal (WA-07), and Rep. Stephanie Murphy (FL-07) on a press call today in support of the Raise the Wage Act of 2021.

The Raise the Wage Act would raise the federal minimum wage incrementally to $15 by 2025. The minimum wage has been stuck at $7.25 an hour, just $15,080 a year, since 2009 – the longest period in history without a raise.

“Raising the federal minimum wage to $15 by 2025 will be a boost to the economy, and a boost to our sales,” said Mike Draper. “Raising wages is good business. Paying people fairly leads to greater staff retention, which reduces the cost of hiring and training new people to replace employees who leave. And fair pay leads to better quality, better ideas and better customer service.”

Draper owns stores in Des Moines, Cedar Rapids and Iowa City; Kansas City, Missouri; Chicago, Illinois; and Omaha, Nebraska. He is a member of Business for a Fair Minimum Wage.

“Raising the minimum wage puts money in the hands of people who most need to spend it, boosting the economy from the bottom up,” said Holly Sklar, CEO of Business for a Fair Minimum Wage. “We’re in the longest period without a raise since the federal minimum wage was enacted to help workers and businesses recover from the Great Depression. Minimum wage increases will go right back into local businesses and help us build a widely shared recovery and resilient economy.”

Mike Draper and other members of Business for a Fair Minimum Wage around the country are available for interviews. To speak with business owners supportive of raising the minimum wage, please contact Cat Ulrich at cat@emccommunications.com or (202) 630-7839.

Background Call-in Information: Today, Tuesday, January 26 at 11:30 a.m. EST, House and Senate leaders will host a remote press conference. Members of the press can join the event at this link. The event will also be livestreamed on the House Committee on Education and Labor Facebook page.

###

Business for a Fair Minimum Wage is a national network of business owners and executives and business organizations that believe a fair minimum wage makes good business sense. twitter.com/MinimumWageBiz