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CHO: GARRETT VOTE ON MINIMUM WAGE FURTHER PROOF HE'S OUT OF TOUCH WITH HIS CONSTITUENTS

Ridgewood, NJ -- Roy Cho, candidate for Congress in New Jersey’s 5th District, today pointed to Tea Party incumbent Scott Garrett’s latest vote in opposition to providing working Americans with a higher minimum wage as further proof that he is out of touch with his constituents.

 

Cho, a moderate, said he would have supported an amendment offered in the House today to raise the minimum wage for federal employees, and further supports raising the wage for all Americans. Unsurprisingly, Scott Garrett voted “no.”

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Cho noted that Garrett also opposed raising the federal minimum wage from $5.15 to $7.25 in 2007.

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“The more Scott Garrett votes, the further and further away he drifts from the mainstream of Northern New Jersey,” said Cho. “Raising the wage will help our recovery, as workers will pump those new wages right back into the economy. Providing working families with enough to be able to put food on their tables, gas in their cars, or buy clothes for their kids should not be too much to ask. In Scott Garrett’s mind, people earning just $7.25 already make too much.”

 

Cho noted that increasing the minimum wage would also provide critical assistance to both families and taxpayers by allowing working families to reduce their reliance on government assistance programs, such as Medicaid and Food Stamps, to make ends meet.

 

“Scott Garrett either doesn’t understand or doesn’t care that people working full-time minimum wage jobs are living below the poverty line,” said Cho. “Raising the minimum wage is the moral thing to do to help families raise themselves out of poverty. It’s unacceptable that Scott Garrett isn’t willing to cast that vote.”

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