Elaine Luria Wants a ‘Living Wage’ for All, Except Her Own Staff
Collin Anderson • March 17, 2022 5:00 amAs a candidate, Elaine Luria said, "Everyone deserves a living wage." But as a congresswoman, the Virginia Democrat paid multiple staffers less than the income required to reach a living wage in the Old Dominion.
During her first run for Congress, Luria called the $7.25 federal minimum wage "criminal" and said she thinks "that everyone deserves a living wage to raise their family in the community." At least two of her congressional staffers, however, earned less than the annual salary that marks a living wage in Virginia, payroll disclosures show.
According to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Living Wage Calculator, an adult with no children must earn a yearly salary of $34,552 to make a living wage in Virginia. Luria has paid at least two junior staffers less than that amount, according to legislative research service LegiStorm. As a staff assistant, Luria's current Virginia Beach constituent services representative, Jacob Olander, earned a yearly rate of just $33,588. Former Luria staff assistant Nolan Brown, meanwhile, made even less, earning a yearly rate of $31,769. Brown left Luria's office last year.
Luria communications director Jayce Genco said every staffer in the congresswoman's office now "makes a living wage." He did not return a request for comment on past staffers in Luria's office who did not earn a living wage.
Luria campaigned as a moderate, pro-business Democrat in 2018, when she narrowly defeated Republican incumbent Scott Taylor in a district that former president Donald Trump carried two years prior. While Luria argued against a $15 federal minimum wage on the campaign trail—instead opting for a regionalized approach in an attempt to protect small business owners—she went on to cosponsor legislation that would raise the minimum wage to $15 nationwide.
That flip-flop came only after Luria sold her small business, which she often invoked on the campaign trail to prove that she understood the economic risk of a one-size-fits-all $15 minimum wage. Such a policy, Luria said during a 2018 candidate forum, would "cause risk to my business and other businesses."
Despite her newfound willingness to impose a minimum wage hike on America's small businesses, Luria ranks last among Virginia's congressional delegation when it comes to median staffer salary, according to LegiStorm. In a statement provided to the Washington Free Beacon, Genco touted the fact that Luria "has consistently voted to raise the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour."
Since she joined Congress in 2019, Luria has emerged as a top target for Republicans as the GOP looks to regain control of the House. Luria's status as a vulnerable member, however, has only intensified since Virginia's 2021 gubernatorial elections. Just one year after President Joe Biden won Luria's Second Congressional District by 2 points in 2020, Virginia governor Glenn Youngkin (R.) carried it by 12 points last November, a whopping 14-point swing.
That development has Republicans convinced they can unseat Luria in 2022, two years after she defeated Taylor by roughly 6 points. Taylor is considering another run against Luria, and Navy veterans Jen Kiggans and Jarome Bell have already declared their candidacies. Kiggans also serves as a state senator and geriatric nurse practitioner.
This is not the first time Luria's actions as a congresswoman have contradicted her rhetoric as a candidate. Luria slammed school choice policies during her 2018 campaign but failed to report that she served as president of a private high school. The Democrat also sends her daughter to a private school in Norfolk that can cost more than $12,000 a year.
Biden Sending Billions to Protect Ukraine’s Borders After Opposing Trump’s $15B for U.S. Border Wall
While sending nearly $14 billion to help Ukraine in its conflict with Russia, President Joe Biden fiercely opposed a similar amount for a border wall along the United States-Mexico border to stem illegal immigration and drug trafficking.
On Wednesday, Biden announced more American taxpayer money would be going toward protecting Ukraine’s borders. Those funds will go to drones, grenade launchers, pistols, rifles, machine guns, shotguns, and ammunition, among other things.
With the help of Republicans and Democrats in Congress, Biden is sending nearly $14 billion in aid to Ukraine in addition to about $350 million in military assistance. Biden had initially asked for about $10 billion to help Ukraine.
On the U.S.-Mexico border, which remains porous, with skyrocketing illegal immigration, Biden has been opposed to continuing the construction of a border wall.
In 2019 and 2020, Biden campaigned against former President Trump’s wall construction project which had cost about $15 billion — only a billion more than what Biden is now spending to protect Ukraine’s borders.
“There will not be another foot of wall constructed on my administration,” Biden said in August 2020.
Nearly 460 miles of border wall were constructed by the Trump administration, most in places where old barriers were replaced with tall, new steel bollard fencing. Construction was completely halted when Biden took office.
As Breitbart News reported, Biden has spent about $6 million every day to not build the border wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. The majority of the nearly 2,000-mile border remains open, with no barriers.
John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at jbinder@breitbart.com. Follow him on Twitter here.
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