--- title: Democratic Debate: Sanders, Clinton Spar Over Minimum Wage description: Bernie Sanders advocates doubling the current federal minimum wage level, while Clinton would increase it slightly less to some $12. canonical: https://time.com/4295459/democratic-debate-minimum-wage-bernie-sanders-hillary-clinton/ author: Daniel White article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-04-15T02:12:36.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-05T08:50:06.209Z article:section: Politics og:title: How the Minimum Wage Fight Mirrors the Democratic Race og:description: A dispute over how to raise it shows Clinton and Sanders differences. og:url: https://time.com/4295459/democratic-debate-minimum-wage-bernie-sanders-hillary-clinton/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5c6811d1fb0e5956/69888f3dcd1bbaf600700444/democratic_debate_c.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4608 og:image:height: 2592 og:image:alt: TIMEPOL Hillary Clinton And Bernie Sanders Spar At Democratic Debate In Brooklyn og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: How the Minimum Wage Fight Mirrors the Democratic Race twitter:description: A dispute over how to raise it shows Clinton and Sanders differences. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5c6811d1fb0e5956/69888f3dcd1bbaf600700444/democratic_debate_c.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # How the Minimum Wage Fight Mirrors the Democratic Race Overall > Sponsored content. 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Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=e117921d-549f-46ad-8a83-0b2875a0e261&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: CNN Democratic Debate: Clinton and Sanders Fight Over Minimum Wage [Watch (HLS stream): CNN Democratic Debate: Clinton and Sanders Fight Over Minimum Wage](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/ChC7qx4a.m3u8) (1:13)  _Published 2016-04-15_ by [Daniel White](https://time.com/author/daniel-white/) ## Daniel White Apr 15, 2016 2:12 AM UTC by [Daniel White](https://time.com/author/daniel-white/) ## Daniel White Apr 15, 2016 2:12 AM UTC The divide over how to increase the federal minimum wage at Thursday’s debate mirrored the Democratic presidential race as a whole. Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders advocates a more broad stroke policy—$15 minimum wage across the board—while front-runner Hillary Clinton wants to play it safe—an immediate increase to $12 with options for states to go higher. The two agree that the minimum wage should go up, but not on how to achieve their desired end. Clinton, responding to a question from moderator Wolf Blitzer, said that if she were president “of course” she would sign off on legislation to increase the federal minimum wage to Sanders’ desired $15, but said that the country must be careful of such broad stroke increases. Sanders seemed taken aback that Clinton would support his desired wage level. “What has happened is history has outpaced Secretary Clinton, because all over this country people are standing up and their saying $12 is not good enough, we need $15 an hour,” Sanders retorted. “To suddenly announce now that you’re for $15, I don’t think is quite accurate.” Doubling the federal minimum wage from it’s current level of $7.25, says Clinton, would be difficult without the full support of Congress, so she is advocating a more piecemeal approach. “Going from $7.25 to $12 is a huge difference,” Clinton said. “I want to get something done and I think setting a goal to get to $12 is the way to go and encouraging others to get to $15, but of course if we have a Democratic Congress we will go to $15.” ## Transcript [00:00] I have supported the fight for 15. I am proud to have [00:04] the endorsement of most of the unions that have lead [00:06] the fight for 15. I was proud to stand on the stage with [00:10] Governor Cuomo with SEIU and others who have been [00:14] leading this battle. And I will work as hard I can to [00:18] raise the minimum wage. I always have. I supported [00:21] that when I was in the Senate. But what I have also said [00:25] is that we've got to be smart about it just the way [00:28] Governor [ UNKNOWN ] was here in New York. If you [00:31] look at it, we move more quickly to 15 in New York [00:34] City, more deliberately toward 12, 1250 [00:39] upstate then to 15. I am sure a lot of people are [00:43] very surprised to learn That you supported raising the [00:47] minimum wage to 15 bucks an hour. I [00:52] called it. That's just not accurate. Wolf hello could I. All [00:53] right Wolf? No. Wait a minute Wait a minute. Wait, wait [00:53] come on. I have stood on the debate sage with Senator [00:56] Sanders eight prior times. I ave said the exact [01:01] same thing. If we can raise it to 15 in New York, or Los [01:03] Angeles, or Seattle Secretary, Senator please. [01:04] Secretary, Secretary the viewers. Let's do it! If you're [01:05] both screaming at each other, the viewers won't be [01:09] able to hear either of you. So please don't talk over [01:12] each other. 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