Conservative Outrage Over Paying Government Workers $10.10 Per Hour!

Obama wants to raise the stakes.

Of course, all Americans are still not seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. After all we're still having some turmoils with hiring and having a steady income despite record gains in the stock market.

But after last week's slide in the Dow Jones shows that our economy is back on the downslide.

It's honestly according to President Barack Obama a self inflicted wound. He's working hard to put people back to work, and his opposition is so devoted to stopping him.

The Republicans and their conservative allies believe that the long termed unemployed and the poor are the reasons for the economic mess we're in. They refuse to pass legislation that advocate unemployment benefits and food stamps for the needy.


They rather see Americans blame the president for their ineptness.

Yeah the House of Representatives can claim they've passed bills. The Senate can claim the same, but however, there is no compromise. So we got a Congressional gridlock.

The president admitted that his second term isn't going so smoothly. He wanted to pass gun control regulation and immigration reform. The U.S. Senate failed to pass gun control and the House will not take up the issue of immigration reform.

Republicans spent a majority of the five years trying to stop gays from getting married, food stamps from being doled out, voter restrictions to keep the poor and minorities from the ballot box, and of course create more turmoil for the president.

Now the newest conservative outrage is the president's executive order to give federal contractors $10.10 per hour.

The Washington Post reports that post State of The Union, President Barack Obama will use his executive power to increase the minimum wage to $10.10 per hour for workers on new government contracts, fulfilling a top demand by liberal lawmakers and groups, according to a White House document.

Obama will also renew his call for Congress to pass legislation to raise the federal minimum wage for all workers from $7.25 per hour to $10.10 per hour by 2015. But the president is taking the executive action with no clear timeline for Congress acting on the broader legislation. Previously, the White House said it wanted to concentrate on the legislative route for boosting the minimum wage.

“Hardworking Americans — including janitors and construction workers — working on new federal contracts will benefit from the Executive Order (EO),” the White House said in a statement. “Some examples of the hardworking people who would benefit from an EO include military base workers who wash dishes, serve food and do laundry.”

An estimated 2 million Americans work on federal contracts, though the number of workers receiving the minimum wage would be a fraction of that.

A survey by the National Employment Law Project of contractors who manufacture military uniforms, provide food and janitorial services, and truck goods found that 75 percent of them earn less than $10 per hour. One in five was dependent on Medicaid for health care, and 14 percent used food stamps.

Obama’s action will only slowly trickle out into workers’ paychecks, beginning in 2015 and at the start of new contracts.

Liberal lawmakers have pushed the White House to use executive powers to boost the minimum wage. Fifteen senators wrote to Obama in the fall, saying that “profitable corporations that receive lucrative contracts from the federal government should pay all of their workers a decent wage.”

It's going to get done. 

The White House argued that a higher minimum wage for federal contract workers would increase morale, reduce turnover and boost productivity. It added that government contractors would be able to manage the increase because only workers on new contracts would be eligible for the boost in the minimum wage.

Obama will also push for passage of a bill sponsored by Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) and Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.) that would raise the federal minimum wage to $10.10 and index it to inflation. Congress last increased the minimum wage seven years ago.

Obama is planning in the State of the Union to describe other executive actions he will take this year — what aides describe as a touchstone to his style of governance in his final years in office.