I 
109TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 5998 
To provide for livable wages for Federal Government workers and workers 
hired under Federal contracts. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JULY 28, 2006 
Mr. GUTIERREZ (for himself, Mr. HASTINGS of Florida, Mr. NADLER, Mr. 
CUMMINGS, Ms. CORRINE BROWN of Florida, Mr. STRICKLAND, Mr. 
SANDERS, Mr. OWENS, Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi, Mr. CAPUANO, Mr. 
MCGOVERN, Mr. MCNULTY, Ms. WATERS, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Mr. 
EVANS, Mr. FATTAH, Mr. HINCHEY, Ms. BALDWIN, Mr. LANTOS, Mr. 
JACKSON of Illinois, and Mr. TIERNEY) introduced the following bill; 
which was referred to the Committee on Government Reform, and in ad-
dition to the Committee on Education and the Workforce, for a period 
to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consider-
ation of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee 
concerned 
A BILL 
To provide for livable wages for Federal Government workers 
and workers hired under Federal contracts. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Federal Living Wage 
Responsibility Act’’. 
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SEC. 2. POVERTY-LEVEL WAGE. 
(a) GENERAL RULE.—Notwithstanding any other 
law that does not specifically exempt itself from this Act 
and except as provided in subsection (b), the Federal Gov-
ernment and any employer under a Federal contract for 
an amount exceeding $10,000 (or a subcontract under 
such a contract) shall pay to each of their respective work-
ers— 
(1) an hourly wage (or salary equivalent) suffi-
cient for a worker to earn, while working 40 hours 
a week on a full-time basis, not less than the 
amount of the Federal poverty level for a family of 
four (as published in the Federal Register by the 
Department of Health and Human Services under 
the authority of section 673(2) of the Community 
Services Block Grant Act (42 U.S.C. 9902(2))); and 
(2) an additional amount, determined by the 
Secretary based on the locality in which a worker re-
sides, sufficient to cover the costs to such worker to 
obtain any fringe benefits not provided by the work-
er’s employer. 
(b) EXEMPTIONS.—Subsection (a) does not apply to 
the following: 
(1) A small-business concern (as that term is 
used in section 3 of the Small Business Act (15 
U.S.C. 632)). 
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(2) A nonprofit organization exempt from Fed-
eral income tax under section 501(c) of the Internal 
Revenue Code of 1986 (26 U.S.C. 501(c)), if the 
ratio of the total wages of the chief executive officer 
of such organization to the wages of the full-time 
equivalent of the lowest paid worker is not greater 
than 25 to 1. 
(c) RETALIATION PROHIBITED.—It shall be unlawful 
for any employer subject to subsection (a) to terminate 
or suspend the employment of a worker on the basis of 
such worker’s allegation of a violation of subsection (a). 
(d) CONTRACT REQUIREMENT.—Any contract sub-
ject to subsection (a) shall contain a provision requiring 
the Federal contractor to ensure that any worker hired 
under such contract (or a subcontract thereof) shall be 
paid in accordance with subsection (a). 
SEC. 3. ENFORCEMENT BY SECRETARY. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—If the Secretary determines (in a 
written finding setting forth a detailed explanation of such 
determination), after notice and an opportunity for a hear-
ing on the record, that a Federal contractor (or any sub-
contractor thereof) subject to section 2 has engaged in a 
pattern or practice of violations of section 2, the following 
shall apply to such Federal contractor: 
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