This isn't really local news, but it certainly affects a lot of people in Waterbury. Congress voted against raising the minimum wage in the US. Minimum wage has been stuck at $5.15 an hour for nine years. Nine years. Think about it. The price of gasoline has doubled in the past three years. Over the past nine years, the cost of living overall has increased. Nine years ago, a nice two bedroom apartment in this area could be rented for $500 a month. Now it's more like $800 a month. Electricity costs more. Heating fuel costs more. I think it's safe to assume that costs will continue to rise, yet our Congress thinks it's acceptable to keep people at $5.15 an hour. If you work 40 hours a week at minimum wage, your annual income is just over $10k. Guess what? That's officially poverty! Kind of makes you wonder why anyone would bother getting a legitimate, legal job.
Meanwhile... this same month, the same Congress decided that it was perfectly okay to take their automatic pay raise of $3,300. In the past ten years, their salaries have increased 26% (according to USAToday). They give themselves 26% more, while giving the struggling poor nothing.
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