Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said he was “not interested in who it hurts” when Patrick Bet-David warned that a $15 minimum wage could put small businesses at a disadvantage against major corporations.
The exchange came during Buttigieg’s appearance on the “PBD Podcast” released Friday, where the two discussed taxes, economic policy, and the Democrat Party’s future.
Bet-David challenged Buttigieg over the cost of a higher wage requirement, saying companies such as Amazon, Walmart, and Target could afford increases that a locally owned shop might struggle to cover.
“Who do you think is impacted if you raise the minimum wage to 15 bucks an hour? Amazon, Walmart, Target, they can raise it,” Bet-David said.
He offered a hypothetical business in Hope, Arkansas, to explain his concern.
“The guy that can’t afford it is that small shop in Hope, Arkansas. Amazon’s across the street, Walmart’s across the street, and Joey’s Place that’s been there for six years is out of business,” he continued. “Raising the minimum wage hurts that guy. It doesn’t hurt the Fortune 500 companies at all.”
Buttigieg responded:
I’m not interested in who it hurts. I’m interested in who it helps. We have enough experience now, both as a country and states doing it on their own, that we know you can do it gradually enough that it doesn’t kill the small business owners.
Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) was more explicit when asked about small businesses unable to afford a $15 minimum wage in February 2021.
“We don’t want low-wage businesses,” he told CNN. “I don’t want small businesses that are underpaying employees.”
Democrats have since sought a higher federal rate. Rep. Bobby Scott (D-VA) and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) introduced legislation in April 2025 to raise the minimum wage to $17 by 2030.
“Raising the minimum wage is good for workers, good for business, and good for the economy,” Scott said.
Republican Glenn Youngkin vetoed a bill in March 2025 that would have raised Virginia’s minimum wage to $15 by January 2027. The then-governor argued that a uniform statewide requirement overlooked differences in local economies and living costs, calling the proposal “detrimental” to small businesses.
Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) also warned during an April 2025 Senate debate that a proposed $17 federal minimum would threaten jobs at employers with little room to absorb higher payroll costs. He said, “Increasing the wage by more than 230 percent even over 5 years will destroy jobs, impacting rural areas and low-margin small businesses that cannot afford such an increase. A law mandating a higher minimum wage doesn’t mean much to a worker who loses his or her job because of this.”
