Biden Wraps Up 2-Day SoCal Trip With Minimum Wage Roundtable Discussion

LINCOLN HEIGHTS (CBSLA.com) — Mayor Eric Garcetti joined Vice President Joe Biden Tuesday for a roundtable discussion with business leaders to discuss raising the minimum wage.

KNX 1070's Megan Goldsby reports Biden used the appearance at the L.A. Baking Company in Lincoln Heights to commend Garcetti and city leadership for pushing to raise the local minimum wage to $13.25 an hour.

"Here's the deal, when you raise the minimum wage for an American worker, they, out of necessity, spend it all, " Vice Presiden Biden said. "This $1.8 billion will immediately go back into the economy of the city of Los Angeles."

Increasing the federal minimum wage has been a hot topic for Democrats as they head toward the November midterm elections.

Politicians would like it to be raised from its current $7.25 to $10.10 an hour. Biden said Monday that too many restaurant workers were living below the poverty level.

Mayor Garcetti has publicly given his support for increasing the minimum wage in Los Angeles to $13.25 over the next three years.

Last week, the city council boosted the minimum wage for non-union hotel workers to $15.37 per hour.

The LA Chamber of Commerce, which opposes Garcetti's plan, released the following statement in response to Biden's visit and a City Council motion regarding the proposal to establish a minimum wage: "This is a major economic decision and councilmembers should take the time to conduct a substantial and independent economic impact study. They should also reach out to businesses in their district to collect real examples of how this minimum wage proposal would affect employment in their district."

Following the roundtable discussion, Biden attended a noon fundraiser at City Club of Los Angeles for Sen. Alex Padilla, the Democratic candidate for California secretary of state, and congressional candidate Amanda Renteria, who is challenging Rep. David Valadao, R-Hanford.

The Vice President arrived in the Southland Monday where he attended two other Democratic fundraisers.

President Barack Obama will travel to the Southland Thursday where he will attend a fundraiser at Gwyneth Paltrow's home.

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