GREENSBORO, N.C. (AP) - Liberal-leaning and faith-based organizers are trying to build public pressure in North Carolina to get Congress to raise the minimum wage by nearly 40 percent.
The group Americans United for Change planned stops Thursday on a 20-state bus tour in Greensboro and Raleigh. The events will include speeches by pastors, professors, union leaders and fast-food workers that would benefit from a higher federal minimum wage.
Many Democrats want to increase the $7.25 per-hour minimum wage to $10.10. A Senate bill would do that over 2½ years. Republicans had enough votes Wednesday to block the legislation from moving ahead.
Republicans say such an increase would eliminate 500,000 jobs, but a government report also says it would lift 900,000 people out of poverty and provide higher incomes to millions of people.
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