Did you know that a woman working full-time at the minimum wage will earn just $14,500 annually? That is $4,000 below the poverty line for a mom with two children. That is $14,500 to pay for your family's necessities. Food. Rent. Gas for your car. Forget about anything extra like a new pair of shoes or a 6th birthday party. It feels practically impossible for so many families that are living on a minimum wage yet women represent nearly 2/3 of minimum wage workers and many of those women are mothers.

Luckily there is a bill in Congress that would raise the wage to $10.10/hour and give 4.7 million working moms a much needed raise: The Fair Wage Act of 2014.

The Fair Wage Act would raise the federal minimum wage from $7.25/hour to $10.10/hour and index the rate to inflation. In addition, tipped workers (waitresses, bussers, bartenders, valets etc.) would get a raise for the first time in more than twenty-three years (can you believe they STILL make just $2.13/hour!?).

This bill is fantastic and I am so grateful we have leaders like Senator Tom Harkin and Representative George Miller to introduce legislation like this. But legislation only works if we have members of Congress that will vote for it….which is where you come into play!

I need you to vote on November 4th so we can have elected officials that will stand up for working families and raise the minimum wage.

Not registered to vote? No problem, MomsRising has you covered. You can register to vote here: https://register.rockthevote.com/registrants/new?partner=16027. Already registered? Well make sure all your friends, family, neighbors, and baristas are registered as well. And you can find additional resources on our MomsVote 2014 website here: http://www.momsrising.org/momsvote.

Need an extra reason to vote?

This November, voters in Alaska, Arkansas, Nebraska, and South Dakota will cast ballots on referenda to raise their states’ minimum wages. Local minimum wage increases will also be on the ballots in San Francisco and Oakland, CA. In Illinois, voters will be asked their view on raising the state’s minimum wage to $10 an hour in a non-binding, advisory referendum. More than 400,000 low-wage workers would see pay increases in the four states where voters will decide directly on raising their minimum wage. That’s a good enough reason to get to the polls on November 4th, don’t you think?

And in case you still are wondering why voting and raising the minimum wage matters, consider this: Raising the minimum wage doesn’t just help individual workers, it also helps our entire economy. Studies show that raising the minimum wage would create 85,000 new jobs in the United States. And the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago says a raise in the minimum wage would help our economy by increasing household spending nationwide by about $48 billion, even benefiting the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

Once the election passes we will need to continue the MOMentum in Congress, so please sign this petition asking your Senators and Representative to raise the minimum wage: http://action.momsrising.org/sign/momsraisethewage/

Mark your calendars now and don't forget to vote on November 4th!