Republican Mitch McConnell and Democrat Alison Lundergan Grimes are both highlighting parts of the Congressional Budget Office report regarding the effects of a minimum wage increase.Congress' non-partisan budget analyst released estimates on Tuesday showing a federal minimum wage hike of $10.10 would results in higher earnings for 16.5 million Americans.Democrats points out the report finds such a proposal lifts nearly 1 million Americans out of poverty.But the CBO also bolsters Republican arguments against the idea. It finds such a proposal would reduce employment by approximately 500,000 workers by 2016. The CBO shows a mandated increase of $9 will result in 100,000 jobs being lost.From Team Mitch: "Today the non-partisan CBO spelled out some of the dire consequences of Alison Lundergan Grimes' blind allegiance to Barack Obama's agenda. Just like with Obamacare, Alison Lundergan Grimes and the Obama-liberals promise a world full of prosperity, but the reality of their policies is fewer jobs and less opportunity for our most vulnerable. News like this is why we need Mitch McConnell in charge of the Senate so we can focus on achieving our Kentucky families' maximum potential rather than a government dictated minimum wage."McConnell has called a minimum wage hike a job killer while Grimes has hitched a large part of her candidacy to tackling income inequality, especially in regards to the gender pay gap.Polling shows a majority of Kentucky voters agree with Grimes, however. And it appear the Grimes campaign isn't backing down in the face of the CBO's estimates.From the Grimes campaign: "As Kentuckians know, raising the minimum wage would create thousands of good-paying jobs in Kentucky and increase the spending power for tens of thousands of the Commonwealth's hardworking families. The people of Kentucky are ready to vote out a Washington politician, worth over $25 million, who is asking them to believe that giving 255,000 women a raise will somehow hurt the economy."
