LOS ANGELES—Vice President Joe Biden has arrived in Los Angeles to discuss raising the minimum wage.
The VP arrives just a day after the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors announced its decision to increase the citywide minimum wage to $15 by 2020.
The first stop on Biden’s L.A. tour was Bobrick Washroom Equipment Inc., a factory located in North Hollywood. He toured the facility with Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti and Los Angeles County Supervisor Sheila Kuehl, an appearance which aimed to highlight the importance of middle-class jobs.
The Vice President’s website states that he has traveled all over the U.S. in his efforts to “raise the living standards of middle class Americans in his role as Chair of the Middle Class Task Force.
The Obama administration is pushing for the federal minimum wage increase from the current rate of $7.25 to $12.00. Biden notes that with the current countrywide minimum, a full-time worker earns only $14,500 per year.
On the subject of the effects of the wage increase, Biden stated that, “they [workers] are going to receive the equivalent of a raise of $4,800. Now for somebody in that circumstance, that’s life changing. It means you can maybe take your kid to a movie once a month and you couldn’t do it before. It means you can maybe fill the tank of your car one more time.”
Biden will attend an event for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel Wednesday night, July 22.
Due to his arrival, there were several road closures on Tuesday, July 21 and Wednesday, July 22.
According to the Los Angeles Police Department, more road closures will take place on Thursday, July 23 from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. on Wilshire Boulevard between Santa Monica Boulevard and Beverly Drive, and on Santa Monica Boulevard between Sawtelle and Wilshire boulevards. Sepulveda Boulevard between Lincoln Boulevard and Century Boulevard will also be closed from 9:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.
The vice president is planning to leave Los Angeles for San Francisco on Thursday.
