Date: 2006-07-12
Speaker: GEORGE MILLER (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: California

Mr. Speaker. Members of the House. earlier today we had a motion to instruct on the vocational education conference. and the motion to instruct was about the minimum wage and about the need of 6 million people who work at the minimum wage for an increase in that minimum wage. These individuals have been stuck at $5.15 since 1997. They are earning 1997 wages in the year Over 80 percent of Americans from all across the country. obviously if it is 80 percent of Americans. from every walk of life. from every social economic strata. believes that these people are entitled to an increase in their wages. and they believe that out of fairness. they believe that out of a sense of fair play for these individuals. They know when they look at their own life. be they middle class or be they rich. the fact of the matter is they recognize that costs have gone up. that the cost of food has gone up. that the cost of bread has gone up. that the cost of milk has gone up. that the cost of education has gone up. that the cost of utilities has gone up. the cost of gasoline of course has soared. And these people in many ways are dependent. whether it is on public transit or whether it is on their own automobiles. it costs them more to go to work. And so America understands this very clearly. But the critical piece to getting these people the minimum wage is to get the Republican leadership in the House of Representatives to understand the morality of this decision to provide for a minimum wage. because these people are working under a Federal minimum wage that was imposed in 1997. And until the Republican leadership decides to go forward. these people will not get that increase in the wages that they so desperately need. Now. there isa glimmer of hope. because today 64 Republicans made the decision to support the motion to instruct. I assume they understood that this motion to instruct will not become law. I hope they didnt vote for it because it wont become law. I hope that it wasnt about posturing. I talked to many of them before the vote and after the vote. and they told me that they wanted to speak and vote on the minimum wage and to send a message. And they did that today. Hopefully that message will start to be received by the Republican leadership in the House of Representatives and they will schedule a minimumwage bill for an up or down vote on this House floor. and we will get to speak our wills and hopefully we will reflect what the American people want us to do. and that is to give these people an increase in the minimum wage. So I would hope that this vote that was taken today will be the beginning of the Republican leadership walking toward that decision to provide for an increase in the minimum wage. I would hope that they would do that because it is the right thing to do. I would hope that they would do that without tricking up the bill. without making the bill so that it can pass the House but it cant get passed in the Senate or it wont get done in conference. I hope they will do it soon enough so that it can become the law of the land. We all understand the political games that can be played. but these political games are tragically almost lethal to these families. These people go to work every day for a whole year and they end up with $10.700. and out of that $10.700 not only are they substantially below the official poverty line. so you are making a decision that the official minimum wage in this country will keep these individuals locked in poverty. That is not the only part of it. It means that those people. those .people will have more difficulty in providing the necessities for their families. for their children. because many of these minimum wage workers have children who rely on that wage as a means of holding the household together. So as rents have continued to go up and energy has continued to go up and telecommunications has gone up. all of these things have gone up. these people struggle with this every day. I dare say most of us in Congress. we work an 8hour day or 10hour day or 12hour day. but when we go home we are done. These people have a second job. They have to figure out how to economically hold their household together. how to provide for their children. how to provide food and rent and health care and all of these things together on $10.700 a year. That is difficult. That is tough. I hope that todays vote with 64 Republicans sending a message to their leadership that they want to speak out. they want to vote on the minimum wage. that the Republican leadership will respond in kind and give the House of Representatives the vote that the American people desire.