Date: 2007-01-10
Speaker: GEORGE MILLER (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: California

Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker. I would like to begin by thanking the staff of the Education and Labor Committee. Jody Calemine and Michele Varnhagen. for all of their work on this legislation. They have diligently worked for years to get this day to come before the House of Representatives. and I know they have the appreciation of all of the members of our committee. I also want to thank our newer staff members. Megan OReilly. Brian Kennedy and Michael Gaffin. for their. good work today and all of their efforts on behalf of this legislation. preparing it for the floor. I also want to thank my colleagues on this side of the aisle who argued on behalf of this bill to increase the minimum wage. and I want to thank- my colleagues on the other side of the aisle who said that they were going to suplport this measure. They may not fully agree with it. but they said they would support it. And I want to thank the cosponsors of this legislation. including I believe seven Republicans who were original cosponsors of this legislation and over 193 Democrats onthis side of the aisle. I was especially taken with the remarks of my colleagues on this side of the aisle who understand that this debate is about more than dollars and cents per hour. This is about the values of this Nation. It is about the value we place on work. It is about the statement that we make to people who go to work every day and work terribly hard in very difficult jobs that most people in this country would prefer not to have. But they go to work every day to do that. to provide for themselves. to provide for their children or to provide for their families. When you talk to minimum wage workers. whether they are providing for themselves or themselves and a child or a child and a spouse. it is tough. It is tough. As the gentleman said on the front page of The Washington Post today. "When I get all done. I have nothing left for me." because he is also taking care of his parents as he is earning the minimum wage. So this is a big day. This is a big day because this is the first time in 10 years that the Congress signals that in fact we are going to raisethe minimum wage. It is what our leader. Speaker PELOSI. said she wanted to do in this first 100 hours. In this first 100 hours she wanted to address urgent parts of the national agenda that are of deep concern to the American people. And to over 80 percent of the American people in this country. they understand that the increase in the Federal minimum wage is a matter of morality. it is a matter of their values. it is a matter of the reflection of our Nation. They understand that these people. minimum wage workers in this country. have been working at a wage that is 10 years old. Ten years old. And they understand the unfairness of that. and they understand the difficulty of that. That is why we brought this bill as a clean bill. because we wanted to highlight and to speak to the Nation about this group of workers who are toiling in spite of the fact that in 28 States they have raised the minimum wage at or above the levels we are talking aboit. In spite of that fact there are still some 13 million people who are directly impacted by the actions we take here today and the actions we take later on to send this bill to the President of the United States. There are 13 million people whose economic viability is dependent upon this bill to increase the minimum wage. That is why we have to do this. and that is why I am so terribly proud of the Members who stood up today and argued for this increase in the minimum wage. Mr.. Speaker. I will reserve 5 minutes of my time. yield 1 minute to the gentleman from California so he may have a similar amount of time. and yield back the balance of my time over the 5 minutes.