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

Mr. Speaker. when Speaker PELOSI spoke about the first 100 hours of the 110th Congress. one of the things she said she wanted to accomplish was to begin to make the economy fairer for all Americans. Today. with this legislation to increase the minimum wage. we begin that task. Fo 10 years. the lowestpaid workers in America have been frozen out of the economy of this country. They have ended up every year. after going to work every day. every week. every month. they have ended up poor. far below the poverty line of this country. They have been working at a Federal poverty wage. not a Federal minimum wage. I am very honored today to be here supporting this legislation as the chairman of the Education and Labor Committee. I am also very honored to be sharing this legislation with our new majority leader. Mr. HOYER. Because of his activities in the last Congress. we were able to bring this issue to a head because of the amendment that he offered on the Health and Human Services bill. where the Republicans chose hot to bring the bill to the floor of the Congress. not to bring it to a vote because they wanted to dey -American workers access to the minimum wage. I consider this a new beginning and a new Congress. but I must say I cannot let the history that the gentleman from California laid out for us to suggest that that is the record. The gentleman has said numerous times in his opening statement that this is a colossal missed opportunity. Let me tell you what a colossal missed opportunity is. For the last 10 years. the Republican leadership in this House fought tooth and nail to avoid any. any opportunity to have an upordown vote on the minimum wage. The only time they thought the poorest workers in America were worth an increase in the minimum wage was if they could tie it to a tax cut for the wealthiest people in the United States. So they never really were interested in it. They wanted to use the power of the sense of fairness that the American public had about the treatment of the poorest workers. They wanted to use that power. that sense of outrage. that sense of immorality that they had about what the Republicans were doing. to drive tax cuts for the wealthiest people in the country. They said they were going to pass the bill and send it to the Presidents desk. We said it was going to die in the Senate. and it died in the Senate. And here today we see the same proposal- being made. They are going to suggest that later today they are going to couple minimum wage with the wonderful health care plan for workers. Their own CBO. the Congressional Budget Office. says that more than 75 percent of the small business workers. over 20 million workers and their dependents. would see their health insurance premiums increase as a result of this proposal. So now they are going to give these workers an increase in the minimum wage. but then they are going to increase their premiums for health insurance. What a wonderful gift from the Republican Party. Cant you just give these workers an increase and be done with it? They have been working at a 10yearold minimum wage. but they are paying 2007 bread prices and milk prices and energy prices and rentals. Where is the decency? Where is the decency to give these workers what they are entitled to. what everybody knows that they should have? Not only that. but then we find out with this wonderful health plan that some 8 million workers whq are currently insured will probably lose their insurance. So now they are going to. if you get insurance. they are going to increase the premiums. If you have insurance. you may lose your insurance. This isnt what America thinks makes the economy fair. What they think makes the economy fair is an increase in the minimum wage. As you all know. this is the longest period in history of law without a wage increase. During that time. the minimum wage has dropped to its lowest buying power in 51 years. The Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2007 would increase the Federal minimum wage to $7.25 an hour over three steps over the next 2 years. Raising the minimum wage is critical to fighting the middleclass squeeze in this country. Fiftynine percent of American workers state that they have to work harder to earn a decent living than they did 20 or 30 years ago. Since 2001. the median household incomes have fallen by $1.300. Wages and salaries make up the lowest share of the economy in nearly six decades. Meanwhile. corporate profits. CEO buyouts. golden parachutes. golden handshakes and golden hellos take hundreds of millions. if not billions. of dollars out of the same corporations that say they cant give an increase to their workers. While the economy is growing and the wealth of its Nation is increasing. more Americans are struggling to pay their bills. Over the last 5 years. the number of Americans living in poverty has increased from 5.4 million to 37 million. One in six children now lives in poverty. Since 2000. prices of education. gasoline and health care have all greatly outpaced inflation. Raising the minimum wage is an important first step for the Congress in its efforts to stand up for middle class and to stem the middleclass squeeze. This raise will make a real. critical difference to millions of peoples lives. and that is what America understands. You pass the minimum wage. and you dramatically change life for millions of people. Does it solve their economic problems? Does it solve the economic stress? No. it doesnt. But it changes their lives. For a family of three. increasing the minimum wage will mean an additional $4.400 a year. equaling 15 months of groceries or 2 years worth of health care. That is a change in the standing of these peoples lives. Raising the minimum wage to $7.25 an hour in 2009. taking into account the increases in family earned income tax credit will take those people who are 11 percent below the poverty level line and move them to only 5 percent below the poverty line. Still below the poverty line but beginning to make this economy fair. It is important that we pass this legislation and we pass it free standing. It is important that we do that so we can address the needs of these families. not that we hijack their plight. not that we hijack their misery. not that we hijack the willingness of the American people to do something for them to then do something that works against them. This is very. very important. this piece of legislation. and it is important that we address the concerns of these individuals. I am proud to say that. on this legislation. H.R. 2. its over 200 original cosponsors. and I am very proud to say we are joined by seven Republican Members who are original cosponsors of this legislation. and I want to thank so many of those Republicans who worked over the years to try to get us this vote on the minimum wage. but we werent successful. Today is the opportunity to bring these two sides of the aisle together. to begin to make this economy fair and to help these people who struggle every day in very difficult jobs. to do the right thing. to participate in the American economy and to provide for their families. But they are not able to do it at a 10yearold minimum wage. and we need to bring that kind of equity to it. We are joined in support of this legislation by over 500 national and local organizations. by over 1.000 Christian. Jewish and Muslim faith leaders who have spoken out on this legislation. by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops who wrote: "For us it is a matter of simple justice for a decent society." And that is what this is about today. This is more than just the dollars and cents per hour.. This is about the morality of this country. This is about the ethics of this body on whether or not these people who have been stuck at this wage for 10 years are entitled to have this modest. modest increase. and I would hope that the House would overwhelmingly support this clean vote on the minimum wage increase over the next 2 years to $7.25. Mr. Speaker. I reserve the balance of my time.