These Florida legislators are living on $17 per day to make a point about minimum wage
At least 18 Florida legislators plan to live on $17 each day for five days, starting Monday. The group is doing it to make a point about what it's like to live on Florida's minimum wage, which is $8.05 an hour. The $17 comes from the amount a minimum wage worker might take home each day after taxes, childcare, and housing, The Associated Press reports.
The move comes as Sen. Dwight Bullard (D) and Rep. Victor Torres (D) push for legislation that would raise the state's minimum wage to $15 an hour.
The lawmakers, most of whom are Democrats, also plan to go grocery shopping with a worker who earns minimum wage.
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Julie Kliegman is a freelance writer based in New York. Her work has appeared in BuzzFeed, Vox, Mental Floss, Paste, the Tampa Bay Times and PolitiFact. Her cats can do somersaults.
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