CBO Estimates Minimum Wage Hike Would Cost Private Sector $15 Billion; Networks Silent

The network evening news casts have yet to report an estimate by the Congressional Budget Office that President Obama's proposal to hike the minimum wage would cost the private sector $15 billion and raise the deficit.

The CBO report came out on Wednesday, but as of Friday evening the networks have ignored it. As the Washington Free Beacon pointed out, the CBO says that Obama's minimum wage would raise the deficit by $5 billion over 10 years and cost private employers $15 billion.

When the CBO estimated in February that the wage proposal could cost 500,000 jobs, CBS was the only network to report it on the evening news casts. Two days after the more recent estimate, all the networks have been silent.

"[I]n fiscal year 2017, when the federal minimum wage would be $10.10 per hour
under the legislation, state, local, and tribal employers would be required to pay their covered
workers an estimated $1 billion more in wages than they would pay under current law," the CBO stated. They added that "private employers would be required to pay their covered workers an estimated $15 billion more in wages than they would pay under current law."