Rep. Hillary Scholten is out of touch with the realities of what working class families face every single day

In her weekly Monday Minute email for December 22nd, Rep. Hillary Scholten wrote:

Michigan’s minimum wage will rise to $13.73 an hour on January 1, giving workers across the state a pay increase and helping families better keep up with rising costs.

Now, some people might be cheering that the minimum wage will go up to $13.73 on January 1st and I understand why some people might cheer. However, people cannot live off of $13.73 an hour.

If you make $13.73 an hour and work 40 hours a week, that translates into $28,558.00 gross pay a year. After local, state and federal taxes are taken out you are now under $25,000 a year left to pay your bills. If you are a single person and live in an apartment that costs $1500 a month, that means you will be paying $18,000 a year in rent. Add to that utilities – electric, gas, trash, and phone and possibly internet and you are looking at another $500 a month (this is a very low estimate) that will add another $6,000 a year.

Between rent and utilities you are now up to $24,000 a year and that doesn’t leave you money for transportation, groceries, health care costs and leisure activities. In other words, making $13.73 an hour will NOT help families keep up with rising costs. This is why Rep. Scholten and most politicians are completely clueless and out of touch with what working class individuals and families are facing on a daily basis just to survive.

Stop insulting working class people Rep. Scholten. Scholten just voted for the $900.6 Billion US military budget, as I noted two weeks ago. The FY2026 US Military budget that Scholten voted for will translate to $2.01 billion leaving the 3rd Congressional district, her district, in tax dollars just to pay for US militarism and imperialism. Imagine of that $2.01 billion stayed in the 3rd Congressional district. It could pay for 248,043 Public Housing Units for 1 Year, according to the National Priorities Project or lots of other really beneficial items that working class families would benefit from.

Again, stop insulting your constituents Rep. Scholten, especially since the majority of your constituents are working class individuals and families.