Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) is taking on President Donald Trump's new overtime rule, saying the increased salary threshold to require overtime pay isn't high enough.
A rule created under President Barack Obama increased the salary threshold so everyone making $47,476 or less would be required overtime pay, benefiting approximately 3 million more workers. Brown himself toured the country with former Vice President Joe Biden and U.S. Secretary of Labor Tom Perez to promote the plan.
A court ruling delayed the rule's implementation, and the Trump administration issued its own rule instead, allowing overtime for people making $35,503 or less. That's still a marked increase from the current threshold of $23,660.
But compared to Obama's plan, Brown says Trump's rule leaves about 1.5 million people around the country, and about 50,000 Ohioans, without overtime pay.
"The president always talks about how he supports workers, but this is fundamentally a betrayal of moderate income workers," Brown says.
In June, Brown proposed raising the threshold to $51,064, which he says would expand overtime benefits to 4.6 million more workers.
Business groups had voiced concern that the Obama proposal would have killed jobs.
Sen. Rob Portman commended Trump's overtime rule.
“I applaud the administration for updating the 15 year old overtime threshold rule allowing an estimated 1.2 million workers to become eligible for overtime under the new policy,” Portman said in a written statement.
