Date: 2005-10-25
Speaker: GEORGE MILLER (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: California

Mr. Speaker. today I rise on behalf of millions of American working men and women who are in desperate need of a raise. It has been a disgraceful 8 years since Congress last voted to raise the national minimum wage which is stuck today at only $5.15 an hour. A person making the minimum wage today would have to work for the better part of an hour just to afford a single gallon of milk or a gallon of gasoline. It was recently announced by the Kaiser Fainily Foundation that the average cost of health insurance premiums for a family of four has for the first time surpassed the annual income of a minimum wage earner. That means that if you work all year long at the minimum wage and you pay your health insurance premiums. you have no money left over for anything else. Last week. Democrats in the House and Senate sought to raise the minimum wage. but the Republican leadership in Congress defeated our efforts. Instead. Congress continues to deny Americas most vulnerable workers the very basic wage necessary to help them support their families. Where is Congress sense of decency and fairness towards those Americans. who simply want. and need. to see work pay? .Now. a major player in the world economy has said that it agrees that the national minimum wage must be increased: We welcome WalMart to this debate. WalMarts CEO said today that the minimum wage should be raised. Here is what he said: "The U.S. minimum wage of $5.15 an hour has not been raised in nearly a decade and we believe it is out of date. with the times. We can see firsthand at WalMart how many of our customers are struggling to get by. Our customers simply dont have the money to buy basic necessities between paychecks." WalMart recognizes what most Americans have known. and Democrats in Congress have been saying. for years. that millions of Americans cannot afford even the most basic necessities of life on todays minimum wage. I dont see eye to eye with WalMart on many important issues. but the company is right about the minimum wage and it deserves praise for taking this position and it deserves to be listened to in this case. I have introduced legislation to increase the minimum wage from $5.15 an hour to $7.25 in three increments over a little more than 2 years. This legislation is sorely needed. People who work full tirne all year at $5.15 an hour earn just $10.700 a year. putting them $5.000 below the official poverty line for a family of three. Raising the minimum wage to $7..25 an hour would add another $4.370 to their income. An increase in the minimum wage would directly benefit 7.5 milllion workers. Of those 7:5 million workers. threequarters are 20 years old or older. Roughly 44 percent of minimum wage workers work full time. Nearly twothirds of them are women. They end up at the end of the year poor and below poverty. I welcome WalMart to the table. I urge them to use the considerable power and influence it has to press hard for Congress to raise the minimum wage. Americans need a raise.Democrats know it. Most Americans know it. And now WalMart knows it. When will the Republican leadership and President Bush finally get the message that it is time to treat these workers with some decency and to provide for an increase in the minimum wage? I include in the CONGRESSIONAL RECORD an article from today about WalMarts CEO calling for a hike in the minimum wage.