Hillary Clinton said she supports a $15 minimum wage. This was news to Bernie Sanders.

Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders talk $15 minimum wage

(Image credit: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

published 15 April 2016

Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton had a dust-up at Thursday's debate in Brooklyn about who supports a $15 minimum wage more. Sanders brought up the $15 minimum wage first, and moderator Wolf Blitzer asked Clinton if she would sign a $15 national minimum wage bill. She said yes.

Clinton said that she backs the system New York is considering, that raises the minimum wage to $15 in New York City quickly and then more slowly in lower-cost upstate New York, and threw her support behind a bill in the Senate that raises the federal minimum wage to $12 — "going from $7.25 to 12 is a huge deal" — and urge cities and local government to raise it to $15. "But of course if we have a Democratic Congress, we'll get to $15," she added. Sanders said the $12 minimum wage bill is good, but his $15 bill is better.

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.