Paul Distorts CBO’s Estimate on Impact of $15 Minimum Wage

Raising the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour would cause 1.3 million workers to become jobless in an average week in 2025, according to the Congressional Budget Office’s median estimate.

Republican Sen. Rand Paul’s claim that the government estimates the pay increase would lead to unemployment for “close to” or “almost 4 million people” refers to the high end of CBO’s range of potential outcomes. The low end of the range was “about zero” jobs lost, CBO said.

Paul, who has opposed past efforts to increase the current federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour, made the