Sanders Hits Clinton on Minimum Wage

KORNACKI: "And in defending the $12-an-hour plan, Hillary Clinton also recently said, she said, 'We need to remember that the cost of living is different in Manhattan than in Little Rock and many other places.' So senator, I wonder if you can grapple with those arguments she's making as to why $15 is too much. She says, the highest of inflation-adjusted minimum wage in history would be $12. And number two, cost of living issues. In a place like Manhattan, maybe $15 make sense, in a place like Little Rock, maybe not."
SANDERS: "Well, this is what I think. I think what the secretary is not looking at is that, Martin, in the last 30 years, there has been a massive transfer of wealth from the middle class and the working class to the top one-tenth of 1 percent. And I think what she's ignoring is that right now we have about 47 million people living in poverty, including many people who are working full-time. The way I look at it is, what constitutes a living wage? and i think moving to $15 an hour, not tomorrow, but over the next few years, is what is appropriate. Again, if you are working in the United States of America, it's not a radical idea to say that you should not be living in poverty after working 40 hours. So I think $15 an hour over the next few years, which is what Seattle has done, what Los Angeles has done, what San Francisco has done. And by the way, I think in the secretary's home state of New York, as I understand it, Governor Cuomo is moving towards a $15-an-hour minimum wage. I support that."