Mitt Romney sides with Democrats calling for $12 hourly raises for essential workers

(Image credit: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

published 1 May 2020

Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) has followed demands of pay raises for essential workers with a proposal of his own.

Romney proposed Friday that essential workers "who are necessarily subject to greater risk of COVID-19" receive hourly bonuses of up to $12 in the form of a tax credit. His proposal comes a month after several Democratic senators suggested $13/hour raises for essential workers that would be retroactive from the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Senate Democrats proposed a COVID-19 "heroes fund" in early April that was a bit simpler than Romney's Patriot Pay. It would extend a "$25,000 premium pay increase for essential workers, equivalent to a raise of $13 per hour from the start of the public health emergency" through the end of the year. It would also offer a $15,000 essential worker recruitment incentive to hire and maintain health care workers.

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Kathryn is a graduate of Syracuse University, with degrees in magazine journalism and information technology, along with hours to earn another degree after working at SU's independent paper The Daily Orange. She's currently recovering from a horse addiction while living in New York City, and likes to share her extremely dry sense of humor on Twitter.

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