President Joe Biden and New York Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez have loudly advocated for a minimum-wage increase and for addressing what they say is a “climate crisis.” Based on wages offered for the positions listed under Biden’s taxpayer-funded American Climate Corp (ACC) program — many of which pay under $12 per hour — when the two goals conflict, climate change is the priority.
Biden: “More than a paycheck. It’s about dignity.”
The ACC, according to Biden and Ocasio-Cortez, is modeled on former President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s Great Depression-era Civilian Conservation Corps. It aims to put “more than 20,000 young Americans to work fighting the impacts of climate change today while gaining the skills they need to join the growing clean energy and climate-resilience workforce of tomorrow.”
Ocasio-Cortez has been advocating for the program for years.
“This is not a pipe dream, and this is not some big progressive vision that is quote-unquote unrealistic,” Ocasio-Cortez said at a press conference in July 2021 announcing the creation of the program.
At the same time, Biden and Ocasio-Cortez have been advocates for increases in the federal minimum wage. Shortly after taking office, Biden issued an executive order to give federal employees and employees of federal contractors a $15 per hour minimum wage.
“A job is about more than a paycheck. It’s about dignity. When I was running for president, I said it was past time to increase the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour,” Biden said in a statement.
When opposition arose over the inclusion of a bill to increase the federal minimum wage in the Democrats’ covid pandemic relief package, Ocasio-Cortez upset that the bill was even being debated.
“It is utterly embarrassing that ‘pay people enough to live’ is a stance that’s even up for debate,” she posted on X.
Hellbound and Down 