While the National Governors Association Winter Meeting takes place in Washington, D.C., Governor Pat Quinn is meeting today with President Obama and senior White Officials over efforts to raise the minimum wage.
Both Quinn and Obama have made the issue of rising inequality centerpieces of their agendas.
President Obama, who called growing inequality the “defining issue of our time” has made raising the national minimum wage to $10.10 a major push of his second term. Congressional Democrats, such as Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) and Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.), have introduced legislation seeking to peg the minimum at above $10.
Locked in a tough reelection battle, Quinn has made raising Illinois’ minimum wage a key piece of his campaign. He has said he hopes the state’s minimum can be raised to $10 by Christmas 2014.
