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

Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. and I rise as we consider going to conference with the Senate on the Vocational Education Improvement Act. something that I think we should do and which I support and have been working with my colleagues on the other side of the aisle in the House and in the Senate to bring that conference to a successful conclusion. but I also rise not just in support of going to conference but also in support of a motion where we will have the ability to stand up for the dignity of 6.5 million workers in the United States making the minimum wage or near minimumwage pay. This motion. instructs the conferees to make it clear that when the bill states its purpose is to prepare students for highways jobs. that in no event should those jobs pay less than $7.25 an hour. The minimum wage today is just $5.15 an hour. and for nearly 10 years the Republican leadership has stood in the way of a raise for Americas lowest wage workers. That is a shame. it is an insult. and it is a moral outrage. This is the year when Members of Congress from both parties should come together and show how serious they are about raising the minimum wage and that they are serious about valuing hard work. Mr. Speaker. I want to remind my. colleagues that the Fair Standards Labor Act. containing the minimum wage. was passed in 1938 to alleviate poverty. Yet now the minimum wage condemns workers to a life of poverty for themselves and for their children. That is what we do when we fail to raise the minimum wage. We put the Federal stamp of approval. the congressional stamp of approval. if you will. on the wages of those. individuals. so that even though they go- to work every day. every week. every month. and all year long. they will not be able to raise themselves out of poverty. That is just unacceptable for this Nation. which is the beacon to the world about economic opportunity. which is the beacon to the world about understanding what it means to have every citizen participate in our society. If they work those 52 weeks a year. they will only earn $10.700. which is $5.000 per year below the poverty line for a family of three. The current minimum wage will not even support a single worker and a single child above poverty. Raising the minimum wage to $7.25 an hour will mean an additional $4.370 a year to help minimumwage earners support their families. I dont have to tell you. Mr. Speaker. because I know you support this act. but here are the -facts. Here are the facts. Those workers today are stuck at 1997 wages. By Federal law. their wage is $5.15 an hour. That wage was to understand what it does to the instisecured by the Congress of the United tutions of freedom and liberty and deStates on a bipartisan vote to raise mocracy when people arent full parthat wage to $5.15. Since that time. the ticipants in our society. Republican Congress has refused to en- Again. these people have made the tertain an increase in that minimum decision that they are going to go to wage. work every day and they are going to Now. what do we have here? We have try their darnedest to support their the fact that the price of milk since families. to support their children and that time has gone up 24 percent. bread to meet their needs. It has been said is up 25 percent. college is up 77 per- for a long time by business that if you cent. health insurance is up 97 percent. do this. you will kill jobs. that you will and regular gasoline is up 136 percent. hurt the people you are trying to supThe fact of the matter is that this min- port. Well. let us again remember what imumwage worker. after 1 hours we are doing here. We are trying to work. cannot stop alongside a gas sta- bring a wage that is stuck in 1997 fortion and get a gallon of gas and a gal- ward to 2006. and we are going to do it lon of milk at the same time. Their over a 2year period. wages simply will not support that. It has gotten to such a point that the That is the problem that we have. is business community is starting to be that we have people stuck at a feder- divided on this. Here you have the largally mandated minimum wage from the est employer. I believe in the United year 1997. None of us are in 1997 today. States. WalMart. and not a company This is 2006. And the fact of the matter that I am used to quoting. but Walis that these people who have made a Mart has said that America needs a conscious decision to go to work every raise in the minimum wage for these day are so badly disadvantaged that people who are earning too little. so they cannot raise themselves above the little that even shopping at WalMart. poverty line. at every day low prices as they adverNow. I know that this Republican tise. these people cannot purchase the conference is led by Mr. BOEHNER. a- basic necessities for their families. very good friend of mine. and he is They are unable to do that. That is the proud of this statement: "I have been kind of economic situation these peoin this business for 25 years. and I have ple find themselves in. never voted for an increase in themin- Again. they do not find themselves in imum wage. I am opposed to it. and I that situation because they are workthink a vast majority of our conference ing at a minimum wage that was inis opposed to it." Well. that may be creased in the year 2000 or 2003. 2004. or true. but I do not believe that a vast 2005. and now we want to update it to 2006 and 2007. This is a minimum wage ftajority of this Congress is opposed to it. And what we have been asking is to which these people are earning which was set in 1997. have a vote on the floor on the min- So that is the reason that I make imum wage. this motion to instruct the conferees. If this Congress continues to listen to because vocational education is becomLeader BOEHNER. and the fact is he has ing an ever more important part of a always been opposed to it. so if they ingha evr more nt art ofpa had listened to him workers would be pathway for students to career opportunities. to increased earnings opporback to wages set in 1973. They would tunity. and in the Senate bill we can be working for $3.35 an hour as the make sure that the purpose of this bill minimum wage and paying 2006 prices is to achieve high wages. In the House for bread and for milk and for gasoline bill we have -no such language. and I and for health coverage and all the rest am asking that we instruct that there of that. That is why this is imperative. be language that what we mean is that This is not a simple economic -deci- in no event should this lead to wages sion. This is a decision of values. This that are less than $7.25 an hour. which is a decision about our country and would be the case if the bill that was about these people. about 6 million voted on in the Health and Human people. many of whom are supporting Services Appropriation Act. offered by children. many wlao are making major Mr. HOYER and Mr. OBnY. if that becontributions to the total income of came law. because then in two jumps their families. This is about whether or we would get to $7.25. not we value their work and we value Mr. Speaker. I reserve the balanceof them as full participants in American my time. society. Mr. McKEON. Mr. Speaker. I yield This is also about understanding that myself such time as I may consume. you cannot build a strong and rich I guess it is no secret we are in an country on the backs of poor people. It election year. As we just saw in the desimply will notwork. Around the coun- bate just before this debate. a lot of try we see where democracy flags and talk about the minimum wage. The lags because of the fact there is such a motion before the House today is nothdisparity in those countries between ing but a political ploy. Nothing in the rich and poor. We know. We have Vocational Education bill before us has charted it. And when you get to the anything to do with the minimum levels of disparity that America is wage. nor has there been any discusstarting to approach now between rich sion of the minimum wage among the and poor. basic fundamental democracy conferees. because this is neither the is threatened. That doesnt mean it time nor the place to consider an inwill disappear. in America. but we have crease. Let me just talk a little about what we have done. 0] 1200 A little over a year ago. the House passed the vocational education reauthorization bill. a bill that has been a law for 30 or 40 years. And the process is that a bill is introduced. it is brought before the subcommittee. the full committee. and finally passed by the House. The Senate passed a similar bill. We have been meeting with the Senate for almost a year trying to work out. resolve the differences between the bills so we can get a bill finally passed and to the Presidents desk. Today. we are naming conferees so we can get this bill finalized and finished up. And about 15 minutes ago the Democrats gave us this motion to instruct conferees that says: "In section 3(2) of the bill. after the phrase high wage insert (in no case less than $7.25 an hour)." Let me read what we have agreed on. "Building on the efforts of the States and localities to develop challenging academic and technical standards. and to assist students in meeting such standards. including preparation for highskill. highwage or highdemand occupations in current or emerging professions. Now that is a good thing that we should be working on. That is what we should be trying to do. educate our young people and prepare them for highskill. highwage and highdemand occupations. " If we took this motion to instruct that they are giving us. we would change that to say. in meeting such standards. "including preparation for highskill. highwage. $7.25anhour. or highdemand occupations in current or emerging professions." So it sounds like they are talking about minimum wage. but what the y -are doing is defining a high wage as $7.25 an hour. I have a little disagreement with that. I dont think that $7.25 an hour is a high wage. but that is what they are wanting us to do. The Democratic leadership is trying to play politics with what. to this point. has been a bipartisan effort to craft a strong bill that benefits millions of Americans. The vocational education reforms that we inclule in our bill will help students and workers build their .academic and technical skills and equip them with the knowledge to proceed with postsecondary education or pursue other opportunities that will pay them much more than $7.25 an hour. I am disappointed that my colleagues on the other side of the aisle would. at the llth hour. actually l1th hour and 45 minutes. or 11th hour and 55 minutes. just before we walk onto the floor. give us something that changes the definition of high wage to $7.25 an hour and ends up tainting good work with bad politics. Mr. Speaker. I reserve the balance of my time.