Could you ever imagine Republicans trying this experiment?
Minnesota Representative Frank Hornstein (DFL-Minneapolis) did something at the grocery store he had never done before.
“I had never scrutinized prices while food shipping to this extent,” he said, “I even weighed two different kinds of potatoes to see where I could catch a break.”
Rep. Hornstein is one of five Minnesota lawmakers taking the Working America Minimum Wage Challenge. Reps. Hornstein, John Lesch, Karen Clark, Metsa, and Shannon Savick are living this week as if they made $7.25 an hour, an effort to raise awareness of the minimum wage as legislators consider increasing it to $9.50 by 2015.
From grocery shopping to transportation, Rep. Hornstein is already “feeling the ‘challenge’ part of the minimum wage challenge.”
“I decided to take transit to the Capitol because that would allow for three extra dollars for food,” he reported.
Luckily, the Minneapolis lawmaker lives and works in the same area, and has access to a robust public transit system. Rep. Shannon Savick, who hails from Wells, isn’t so lucky: she has a two hour drive to work.
“The transportation budget is going to be very tight because I need to make a few drives for work that will take up nearly all of it,” she told us, “These challenges really go to show just how difficult it can be for low wage workers to get by on the minimum wage alone.”
With the $35 per week food budget, Rep. Savick is trying to go without. “I think I’m doing well with the food budget mostly by eating a little less and essentially skipping breakfast,” adding that her lunch two days in a row consisted of “a cup of soup and some milk.”
Welcome to the 99%, ladies and gentlemen.
