Rep. Tim Ryan has cut out his afternoon coffee break and trip to Dairy Queen with his kids. No fresh fish or glass of wine with dinner. When he ran out of vitamins, he didn’t go out and buy another bottle. This week, he’s decided that he can’t afford it.
Ryan, a Democrat from Ohio, is living on $77 for seven days as part of a campaign to raise the minimum wage. His wife Andrea, Rep. Jan Schakowsky of Illinois and former Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland are also participating in the challenge, which is being organized by 66 advocacy and research organizations and began last Thursday.
Ryan says he’s not under the illusion that he’ll experience real life at the minimum wage. “I don’t think my wife and I are going to get anywhere close to the reality,” he said. “We have stuff in our medicine cabinets. We have toothpaste. We have the things we already need in our homes.”
But he believes the gesture sends a message. “If you’re representing people you should try to put yourself in their shoes,” said Ryan. “They can call it a stunt or a gimmick. The reality is that millions of people do it. The alternative is we look the other way, and we pretend it’s not a problem.”
The campaign’s organizers calculated that $77 would be what the average worker — working 40 hours a week, at the federal $7.25 minimum wage — would have to spend after housing expenses and taxes.
Ryan found himself quickly overspending last week while he was in Washington, where he doesn’t cook or even have cooking utensils in his apartment. “I ended up getting pizza for breakfast and lunch, $3 each, which is a terrible waste of money,” he said. “I drove home on Friday, I got a Whopper from Burger King.”
There were also expenses that Ryan didn’t anticipate. “My wife called and let me know we had to pick up a couple of prescriptions for our new baby. Cost $24. So we are down to $130 before we even got started,” he wrote on his Facebook page.









