President Obama is super pumped Rhode Island raised its minimum wage

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Rhode Island officially hiked up its minimum wage to $9.60 an hour Monday and President Obama couldn’t be happier.

Obama released a statement on the Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo’s (D) actions and praised the state, which previously had a $9 an hour minimum wage, for continuing to stay above the federal level of $7.25.

Raising the federal minimum wage was one of Obama’s major goals of his second term, but his proposals have gone nowhere. Instead, he has called on states and cities to act on their own. 17 states have responded to this call.

“This year, more than half of our states guarantee their workers a wage higher than the federal minimum, but despite this progress we still have work to do,” Obama said in a statement. “I continue to encourage states, cities, counties and companies to lift their workers’ wages. I urge Congress to finally do the right thing and give America a raise.”

Obama’s statement of praise also included one of his favorite activities — playing the blame game.

“It’s so hard to get anything through Congress — even when we’re talking about issues that most Americans outside of Washington agree on,” he said. “But that’s also why we’ve partnered with many of you over the past couple of years — to make real progress on the economic priorities that matter to middle-class Americans.”