Burgess Owens Calls Out Bernie Sanders For Previous Minimum Wage Hypocrisy

Newly-elected U.S. House Rep Burgess Owens (R-UT) criticized the proposed $15 minimum wage hike yesterday in a tweet, specifically calling out U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and a previous situation where it was discovered that some of his campaign staff were not making that wage.

“So, @BernieSanders raised $108 million for his campaign and couldn’t raise staff minimum wage to $15/hour without cutting hours… Yet, he thinks it’s crazy that the mom and pop small businesses in my district are worried,” Owens stated in the tweet.

Owens then asked, “I wonder why America thinks Congress is out of touch?”

So, @BernieSanders raised $108 million for his campaign and couldn't raise staff minimum wage to $15/hour without cutting hours… Yet, he thinks it's crazy that the mom and pop small businesses in my district are worried. I wonder why America thinks Congress is out of touch?

— Burgess Owens (@BurgessOwens) February 16, 2021

A “renewable energy policy manager” from Utah, Nate Blouin, shared two articles which showed that in 2019, he went to lecture Walmart on their wage practices while some of his staff weren’t making the $15/hr based on how many hours worked versus their salary.

In the follow up article, it was reported that Sanders’ campaign and a union representing campaign staffers had reached an agreement to pay those staff the equivalent of at least $15/hr.

And then he fixed it.https://t.co/5LlRUqyzYr

— Nate Blouin (@NatefromUtah) February 16, 2021

According to Jonathan Williams, a spokesman for the union, no hours or positions were being cut to accommodate the salary increase, however, in the first article, it was reported that the staff in question were working up to 60 hours per week and then the agreement limited their hours to 50.

A Fox News headline at the time said, “Bernie Sanders campaign announces it will cut hours to pay staffers $15 minimum wage, prompting mockery.”

One Twitter user “Allison” responded to Blouin and said, “Why was this necessary seeing as how he is the “man of the WWC and all, shouldn’t $15 an hour have been his minimum from day one, shouldn’t he have been leading by example or was it just a sound byte until he was backed into a corner and had to? Just asking.” Blouin agreed with her.

I agree.

— Nate Blouin (@NatefromUtah) February 16, 2021

It was recently reported that President Biden doesn’t believe that the minimum wage hike will be passed at this time, ultimately. “I don’t think it’s going to survive,” Biden recently told CBS News.

Aside from the political wrangling, the Senate’s parliamentarian could potentially rule that the minimum wage measure can’t be included in the pandemic bill.

Sanders, who is the chair of the Senate Budget Committee and been a champion for its passage, has said he’s largely focused on winning approval from the parliamentarian to tack the provision onto the pandemic bill.