The exchange came throughout Buttigieg’s look on the “PBD Podcast” launched Friday, where the 2 gone over taxes, financial policy, and the Democrat Party’s future.
Bet-David challenged Buttigieg over the expense of a greater wage requirement, stating business such as Amazon, Walmart, and Target might manage boosts that an in your area owned store may have a hard time to cover.
“Who do you believe is affected if you raise the base pay to 15 dollars an hour? Amazon, Walmart, Target, they can raise it,” Bet-David stated.
He provided a theoretical organization in Hope, Arkansas, to discuss his issue.
“The guy that can’t manage it is that little store in Hope, Arkansas. Amazon’s throughout the street, Walmart’s throughout the street, and Joey’s Place that’s been there for 6 years runs out organization,” he continued. “Raising the base pay harms that guy. It does not injure the Fortune 500 business at all.”
Buttigieg reacted:
I’m not thinking about who it injures. I’m interested in who it assists. We have sufficient experience now, both as a nation and states doing it by themselves, that we understand you can do it slowly enough that it does not eliminate the small company owners.
Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) was more specific when inquired about small companies not able to pay for a $15 base pay in February 2021.
“We do not desire low-wage organizations,” he informed CNN. “I do not desire small companies that are underpaying workers.”
Democrats have actually given that looked for a greater federal rate. Rep. Bobby Scott (D-VA) and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) presented legislation in April 2025 to raise the base pay to $17 by 2030.
“Raising the base pay benefits employees, helpful for service, and great for the economy,” Scott stated.
Republican Glenn Youngkin banned a costs in March 2025 that would have raised Virginia’s base pay to $15 by January 2027. The then-governor argued that a consistent statewide requirement ignored distinctions in regional economies and living expenses, calling the proposition “destructive” to small companies.
Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) likewise alerted throughout an April 2025 Senate argument that a proposed $17 federal minimum would threaten tasks at companies with little space to take in greater payroll expenses. He stated, “Increasing the wage by more than 230 percent even over 5 years will ruin tasks, affecting backwoods and low-margin small companies that can not manage such a boost. A law mandating a greater base pay does not imply much to an employee who loses his/her task due to the fact that of this.”
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