There wasn’t much agreement between Rep. Ashley Hinson and Congresswoman Abby Finkenauer on Monday night when the two discussed raising the minimum wage.
Finkenauer criticized Hinson for supporting a bill to restrict local governments from raising the minimum wage in their localities in the Iowa House.
“Rep. Hinson, you actually took away a wage increase for your own constituents,” Finkenauer said. “Linn County voted to raise the minimum wage to $10.10/hour. And then in the statehouse, you voted to undermine that to say that they couldn’t do it. The reality was the people on the ground, the local leaders, saw that folks needed to be able to compete and to be able to live their lives with dignity and respect.”
Hinson jumped in and said a $15/hour minimum wage, which Finkenauer supported in Congress, isn’t the answer either.
“We may need to raise the minimum wage a moderate amount, but it doesn’t cost the same to live here in Iowa as it does in San Francisco or New York,” Hinson said.
