I
106TH CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. R. 4353
To provide for a livable wage for employees under Federal contracts and
subcontracts.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MAY 2, 2000
Mr. GUTIERREZ (for himself, Mr. BONIOR, Mr. BRADY of Pennsylvania, Mr.
STARK, Mr. EVANS, Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi, Mr. KUCINICH, Mr.
FRANK of Massachusetts, Mr. HILLIARD, Mr. GREEN of Texas, Mr. FIL-
NER, Ms. LEE, Mr. MEEKS of New York, Ms. VELA´ZQUEZ, Mr. SANDERS,
Ms. KILPATRICK, Mr. PALLONE, Ms. WATERS, Mr. CAPUANO, Mr.
WYNN, Mr. HOEFFEL, Ms. NORTON, Mr. HINCHEY, Mr. ENGEL, Mr.
DAVIS of Illinois, Mr. FATTAH, Mr. JACKSON of Illinois, Mr. NADLER,
Mr. LEWIS of Georgia, Mr. OWENS, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Mr. COSTELLO,
Mr. CONYERS, Mr. RUSH, Mr. PAYNE, Mr. MCDERMOTT, Ms. CARSON,
Mr. BROWN of Ohio, Mrs. MALONEY of New York, Mr. BERMAN, Mr.
COYNE, Mr. MARTINEZ, Mr. PASTOR, Mr. TIERNEY, Mrs. CHRISTENSEN,
Mr. CUMMINGS, Mr. PHELPS, Mrs. CLAYTON, Mr. GEORGE MILLER of
California, Mr. KILDEE, Ms. PELOSI, Ms. MCKINNEY, Mrs. MINK of Ha-
waii, Mr. STRICKLAND, Mr. MATSUI, Mr. RAHALL, Ms. WOOLSEY, Ms.
BALDWIN, Mr. DEFAZIO, Ms. MILLENDER-MCDONALD, Mrs. JONES of
Ohio, Mr. RANGEL, Mr. OLVER, Mr. DELAHUNT, Mr. TOWNS, Ms.
BROWN of Florida, Mr. CLAY, Ms. DELAURO, Mr. MCNULTY, Mr. LIPIN-
SKI, Mr. ROMERO-BARCELO´, Mr. SERRANO, Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA, Ms.
EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas, Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas, Mr.
LANTOS, Mr. JEFFERSON, Mr. RODRIGUEZ, Mr. SABO, Mr. FARR of Cali-
fornia, Mr. DIXON, Mrs. MEEK of Florida, Mr. REYES, Mr. ORTIZ, Mr.
HINOJOSA, Mrs. NAPOLITANO, Mr. GONZALEZ, Mr. BACA, Mr. MCGOV-
ERN, Mr. BARRETT of Wisconsin, and Ms. ROYBAL-ALLARD) introduced
the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and
the Workforce, and in addition to the Committee on Government Reform,
for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case
for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the
committee concerned
A BILL
To provide for a livable wage for employees under Federal
contracts and subcontracts.
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’’.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
The Congress finds the following:
(1) American workers are working harder to
make ends meet.
(2) The wages of many working Americans
have not kept pace with the cost of providing for
their families.
(3) The Federal Government provides billions of
dollars in subsidies to businesses each year through
both spending programs and the Internal Revenue
Code of 1986.
(4) Recipients of Federal contracts have bene-
fited greatly from the provision of taxpayers’ dollars.
(5) The Congressional Budget Office concluded
that the Federal Government spends more than $30
billion a year on spending and credit programs.
(6) Congress must ensure that Federal dollars
are used responsibly to improve the economic secu-
rity and well-being of Americans across the country.
SEC. 3. POVERTY LEVEL WAGE.
(a) REQUIREMENT.—
(1) GENERAL
RULE.—Except as provided in
paragraph (2), any employer under a Federal con-
tract for an amount exceeding $10,000 or a sub-
contract under a Federal contract for such an
amount shall, except as provided in subsection (b),
pay each of the employer’s employees working on or
hired 
in 
conjunction 
with 
such 
contract 
or
subcontract—
(A) an hourly wage necessary for such em-
ployee to earn, while working 40 hours a week
on a full-time basis, the amount of the Federal
poverty level for a family of 4 (as published in
the Federal Register by the Department of
Health and Human Services under the author-
ity of section 673(2) of the Omnibus Budget
Reconciliation Act of 1981), or
(B) $8.20 an hour,
whichever is greater.
(2) EXCEPTION.—An employer which is—
(A) a small business concern as defined
under section 3 of the Small Business Act (15
U.S.C. 632), or
(B) a nonprofit organization exempt from
Federal income tax under section 501(c) of the
Internal Revenue Code of 1986 if the ratio of
the total compensation of its chief executive of-
ficer to the compensation of the full-time equiv-
alent of its lowest paid employee is not greater
than 25 to 1,
shall not be required to pay the wage prescribed by
paragraph (1).
(3) SCOPE.—An employer may not avoid the re-
quirement of paragraph (1) by laying off or other-
wise terminating the employment of an employee
with the intention of replacing such employee with
an employee who, under subsection (b), is not eligi-
ble for the subsection (a) wage.
(b) EXCEPTION.—An employee who is participating
in—
(1) an apprenticeship program, or
(2) any other training program which does not
exceed 6 months in duration and which is offered to
an employee while employed in productive work that
provides training, technical and other related skills,