Date: 2006-07-11
Speaker: GEORGE MILLER (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: California

Mr. Speaker. I thank the gentleman from Massachusetts. and I just want to join him in his remarks that this really is not about this rule. but this is the only place where we can protest the priorities of this Congress when there are millions of American workers who work at the minimum wage. who are unable to provide for their families the basic necessities of their families. And Congress fails to address that issue and fails to address it especially when it is so clear the voids in the congressional schedule. where there are these huge gaps of time where it would be available to debate the minimum wage. hold hearings on the minimum wage. and report out a bill for consideration by tha Members of Congress. And yet that is not being done. It is not being done basically because the Republican leadership has committed itself to its supporters and the business community that it will not allow a minimum wage vote to come before the House of Representatives. even though it is clear that there is probably enough support to pass this legislation to increase the minimum wage to $7.25 an hour over the next couple of years. By doing that. we dramatically change the lives of those individuals who today work at $5.15 an hour. We dramatically change the lives of the 1.6 million workers who are parents of children under the age of 18 who earn the minimum wage. All together those parents are working to raise more than 3 million children. and yet with the minimum wage stuck at $5.15 an hour. they are unable to provide the necessities for their family. for those children. Mind you. these families are stuck at a wage of 1997. The Members of this House cannot think of anything else that is stuck at 1997. The price of bread is not struck in 1997 prices. The price of gasoline is not at 1997 prices. The price of health care is not at 1997 prices. But for these -people who work every day and work at very difficult jobs. jobs most other people might not take. certainly will not take at this wage. they end up at the end of the year poor. At the end of this congressional year. this Congress will not be able to find the time to address this urgent economic need. We have supporters for increasing the minimum wage. a company I dont generally agree with. but WalMart. who says essentially. even at their stores where they advertise everyday low prices. that the people who shop in the stores at minimum wage are not making enough money to buy the basic necessities that are offered. There is not enough money in the communities to provide for the success of those stores. This is about whether or not we are going to create an underclass in America. an underclass probably we already have because these people are stuck in 1997 wages. But now that you know it. what is the morality of ignoring them? What is the morality of making a conscious decision that you are going to go out of session today at 2 oclock as opposed to staying a couple of hours longer and dealing with the minimum wage? What is the morality that you are going to end this session of Congress where I think we have maybe 30 days left before adjournment without addressing the minimum wage? What is it you are saying to these people about the worth that they are worth. about their lives. about their desire to take care of their children. to provide the necessities. to provide the wherewithal for the education and the health and the nutrition of their children? Try doing it on $5.15 an hour. It wont buy you 2 gallons of gas today. so I hope you dont have to commute very far. It certainly wont help with health care payments because you have to pay the rent. and today we see rent is going up as housing markets go up. So we leave these people stranded. And you want to talk about values. you want to talk about families. you want to talk about children. you want to talk about community. and you a creating an underclass that is so desperate. and yet these people make the decision to go to work every day. Explain the morality of that. No. youare going to spend your morality on Internet gaming. We are going to say to people. if you bet on a horse. you are legal. if you bet on a dog. you are not. If you bet in one State. you are legal. not if in another. If you want to play Texas Hold Em. you are legal in some States. but not in other States. No. lets talk about the morality of a family that is struggling every day to hold itself together at a time of increasing utility costs. increasing food costs. increasing transportation costs. increasing energy costs. and this Congress. under Republican leadership. simply will not make time to discuss this issue. to vote on this issue. We are not finding the time under this leadership to vote on this issue. That is why we are going to ask for a vote on the previous question to suggest to you that there is .another way to run this Congress. to run it for the benefit of these desperate Americans who are working hard every day. but not getting compensated in todays pay. Imagine. You didnt think it was sufficient that you all get compensated here at 1997 wages. so we have continued to provide a COLA. I think it is justified. but the fact of the matter is. for millions of Americans. you have made a conscious decision while we -get a COLA. we are going to trap them in 1997 wages. I thank the gentleman. I thank him for hiis leadership. for allowing his cooperation on allowing this opportunity to have this vote and again to try to express to this Congress. because now we are lobbying the Congress on behalf of the people that are not politically engaged. are not politically active. They are working too hard. they are working too hard at work. and they are working too hard the rest of the day trying to figure out how they hold their families together. And what do they get from the Republican Congress? They get the back of their hand. They get the back of their hand. These peoples workday does not end at 5 oclock. They spend the rest of the time trying to figure out how they are going to juggle transportation costs. food costs. health care. education. how they are going to do that for those 3 million children. And we sit by and we end the workday at 2 oclock? At 2 oclock. they are just getting started. We end the work day at 5 oclock. they are driving home and figuring out whether or not they can go by the supermarket. Or we are not going to work on Fridays. They go to work on Fridays. They go to work all day on Fridays. We are going to work at 6 oclock on Monday night. They went to work at 6 oclock Monday morning. Do you start to get the sense of the inequities that are taking place here that are within your power to change? Let me tell you. you say. oh. you are going to kill jobs. There is no evidence that that is the case. In fact. those States that have increased the minimum wage apparently are doing a little better economically and having more job creation than those States that did not. But let me tell you. if you have a business plan that is dependent upon paying people 1997 wages. there may be something wrong with your business plan. I do not think we should become coconspirators in creating this underclass. and we should not be able to look the other way as we live a life that is completely out of touch with the struggle of these people. with our neighbors. with people living in our community. They struggle on the job and off the job because it never ends for them trying to make ends meet. And we stroll in here on a Tuesday morning. we stroll out of here on a Thursday night. We stroll out of here for the month of August and we stroll out of here in November and we cant find time? We cant find time to address this issue? We are not asking you to raise the wages from today. We are asking you to raise the wages from 1997. I thank the gentleman for yielding the time.