Presidential Election

Democrats Will Make $15 Minimum Wage Part Of Party Message

With speculation rising that Bernie Sanders is about to endorse Hillary Clinton, the two camps negotiated a $15 minimum wage platform for Democrats.

Democrats Will Make $15 Minimum Wage Part Of Party Message
Getty Images / Joe Raedle
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"My fellow Democrats and madam chair, raising the federal minimum wage sets the moral standard in this country," former Ohio state Sen. Nina Turner said Friday.

Bernie Sanders' camp landed a major policy victory Friday as Democrats amended their party platform to include a $15-an-hour federal minimum wage.

As Democrats meet and set their policy agendas ahead of the Democratic National Convention later this month, that's a pretty significant shift for Hillary Clinton.

The presumptive Democratic presidential nominee's previous stance was for a $12 minimum wage.

"They are now required to have a $7.25 minimum wage, so to go from that to $12 is a big leap," Clinton told CNN.

In the platform amendment Friday, Democrats praised the movement to gradually increase minimum wages in New York and California — a movement Sanders made a hallmark of his presidential run.

SEE MORE: Why Bernie Sanders Is Still The Big Winner Of This Primary Season

" ... need at least $15 an hour," Sanders said at a rally in July 2015.

"We've got to end the starvation minimum wage of $7.25 and raise it to $15," he said during a debate with Clinton in April.

"If somebody works 40 hours a week in the United States of America, that person should not be living in poverty," Sanders told Iowa Public Television in September. "That's what a $15 minimum wage would do."

But shortly after the minimum wage proposal sailed through unchallenged, two other Sanders-backed amendments to expand Social Security got shot down. So while Clinton and Sanders are negotiating, they're not entirely on the same page.

Speculation is growing Sanders will endorse Clinton soon, possibly as soon as this coming week.

This video includes clips from KERO and Bernie 2016. Music provided courtesy of APM Music.