SPRINGFIELD – State Senator Christopher Belt (D-Cahokia) released the following statement regarding a statewide minimum wage increase being signed into law Tuesday morning. 

Belt joined Pritzker at the governor’s mansion for the signing of Senate Bill 1 Tuesday.

                                                                 "Workers need a living wage"

SPRINGFIELD – State Senator Christopher Belt (D-Cahokia) released the following statement today regarding his vote to increase the state minimum wage to $15 by 2025.

If approved and signed by the governor, it would be the first minimum wage increase in Illinois in a decade.

“Raising the minimum wage to $15 will help our workers better support our economy,” said Belt, who is a co-sponsor of the measure. “We cannot expect workers or individuals who have to pay back student loans to be able to afford the cost of living when they only make $8.25.”

Read more: Belt votes to increase the state minimum wage to $15

“Increasing job development is the ultimate objective”

BELLEVILLE – State Senator Christopher Belt joined Gov. JB Pritzker to voice his support for a plan that will benefit African-American and low-income Metro East residents through expanded job training opportunities.

Belt (D-Cahokia) joined Gov. JB Pritzker at Southwestern Illinois College in Belleville as he signed an executive that will strengthen the state’s workforce development and job creation.

“To shift our state workforce issues, we have to shift our attention to the growing industries and apply all our resources to help them,” Belt said. “This is the first step we need to take to do that.”

Read more: Belt welcomes shift in focus to job training

CAHOKIA – State Senator Christopher Belt is commending local school leaders for starting a Breakfast Beyond the Bell program to help students get a nutritious start to the day.

Cahokia Unit School District 187 is starting the free and reduced breakfast program, which is federally funded and will provide breakfast to students who cannot afford it on a regular basis. 

“What a noble concept to feed our students when they are hungry,” Belt said. “The research has made it abundantly clear that students who eat a nutritious breakfast at the start of their day, academically, do better than students who do not.”

The St. Louis Area Food Bank supports the program and will provide a variety of breakfast items to more than 1,000 students two days a week.