Minimum Wage For Employers But Biden Campaign Used Unpaid Interns

President-elect Joseph Biden has announced a proposal, called the American Rescue Plan, which has the goal of containing the COVID pandemic and providing economic relief. But the plan also contains an unrelated proposal: a mandate for a $15 per hour minimum wage in every U.S. labor market. A higher minimum wage has long been a goal of Biden and many other professional Democrats, but they also have paid many of their own workers much less than the minimum wage.

In Iowa, the Biden campaign paid its interns $0. And as the Democratic Party nominee, Biden and his campaign ran a fellowship program in which workers were unpaid. Biden is now taking over a White House intern program that also pays workers nothing.

Congressional Democrats do want their interns to get paid $15 per hour, but the money would not come out of money they raise in campaign funds. Instead, they want extra money from taxpayers to pick up the tab.

Also, the Democratic National Committee runs three-and-a-half month internship programs which pay $3,000, or $200 per week. If interns are expected to do a typical work week, their pay comes out to roughly $5 per hour.