{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.sanders.senate.gov/newsroom/must-read/this-is-why-the-middle-class-cant-get-ahead", "This is why the middle class cant get ahead", "2014-12-03", "2014", "2014-12", "Independent", "House", "VT", "Bernard Sanders", "S000033", "www.sanders.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "This is why the middle class can\u2019t get ahead\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t By:\u00a0 Nick Hanauer \n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\tWednesday, December 3, 2014\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\tEditor\u2019s Note:\u00a0When\u2019s the last time you worked overtime? How about the last time you worked overtime\u00a0and\u00a0got paid for it? If you\u2019re in the middle class, probably not recently.\r\nOnly Americans who make less than $23,660 a year are automatically eligible for time-and-a-half pay after working 40 hours a week. Today, that\u2019s only 11 percent of salaried workers. It didn\u2019t used to be this way, and it doesn\u2019t have to stay this way, argues venture capitalist Nick Hanauer.\r\nJust like President Obama has taken executive action on\u00a0immigration, Hanauer believes the president can and should take executive action to raise the salary threshold for overtime eligibility.\r\nHanauer\u2019s a billionaire who made his fortune as one of the original investors in Amazon. The current rules are written to benefit wealthy capitalists like him, he admits. So, you might ask, why does Hanauer care about overtime pay for people who make less, much less, than he does?\r\n\u201cIronically,\u201d he writes, when \u201cyou earn less, and unemployment is high, it even hurts capitalists like me.\u201d That won\u2019t surprise Making Sen$e readers who\u2019ve heard his brand of\u00a0\u201cmiddle-out economics.\u201d\u00a0Closing the income gap wouldn\u2019t just benefit the middle class; a stronger middle class is the source of economic prosperity for everyone, he thinks.\r\nRead more at PBS.org", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.sanders.senate.gov/newsroom/must-read/this-is-why-the-middle-class-cant-get-ahead"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.729679061099887, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}