Twitter blue: AOC gets fact-checked after attempted attack on Republicans
Cami Mondeaux
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Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) criticized Republicans for refusing to support increasing the minimum wage, prompting a fact-check from Twitter that showed both parties have failed to raise that number over the last decade.
Ocasio-Cortez took a shot at the GOP in a tweet, suggesting Republicans were at fault for Congress failing to pass a measure in 2021 that would have raised the federal minimum wage. The New York Democrat’s criticism came in response to a tweet from the Republican Party stating, “60% of workers report living paycheck-to-paycheck.”
“And yet y’all still voted against raising the minimum wage,” Ocasio-Cortez said in response, referencing a bill Congress voted on in 2021 that failed to pass the Senate after seven Democrats joined all 50 Republicans to oppose it.
NEVADA VOTES TO RAISE MINIMUM WAGE
Ocasio-Cortez’s response prompted a fact-check from Twitter to add context to her tweet.
The last time the minimum wage was raised nationally was in 2009, when it was adjusted to $7.25 an hour. That number has remained stagnant since then.
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Although the Twitter fact-check acknowledged that Republicans are more likely to oppose raising the minimum wage, it noted that the 2021 effort to do so had bipartisan support. In fact, the measure passed the Democratic-led House 231-199, with three Republicans backing the bill. Eight Democrats and one independent opposed the measure.
Although the federal minimum wage mandates the lowest amount an employer can pay an employee, several states have implemented their own minimum wage at much higher rates. For example, the minimum wage in Hawaii is $12 per hour, while in California, it’s $14 an hour.