We Need A Pro-Growth Agenda to Raise Wages

Floor Speech

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Mr. PERRY. Mr. Speaker, Wendy's, one of the world's largest fast-food chains, plans to replace human employees with automated self-service kiosks in many of its 6,500 restaurants around the country and around the world in an effort to counteract minimum wage hikes throughout the United States. I don't blame Wendy's at all. They can either react or they can close up their doors, and then no one will be working.

The economics on the issue are pretty clear. Wendy's is doing what they have to do to survive, and others will certainly follow suit. They will adapt, or they will be gone.

When the government unnecessarily and unilaterally increases the cost of labor and imposes it on the job creators, the jobs are probably going to be replaced through automation and technological advancement. This is nothing new. This technology is not new. Wendy's could have done this a long time ago if they just wanted to maximize their profits, as every single corporation in America seems to be accused of doing these days. But these are the job creators. These are the job makers. They have chosen now because they have no other choice.

Many people say that this is an artificial wage and that it actually discourages employment and distorts the market. Well, here is the proof. This is exactly what is happening. And don't blame Wendy's. They are trying to survive in a 2 percent economy.

Mr. Speaker, let's not lock out millions of people from their entry- level employment. I am a person who worked for less than minimum wage. One time I asked my boss at the time, I said: ``Do I make minimum wage?'' And he said: ``No, you are not worth it.'' I was just barely in high school. I didn't have much to offer, except a strong back and showing up on time with a good attitude, and he paid me for that, and I worked my way up.

The squeeze on the middle class is real. It is painful for tens of millions of anxiety-ridden Americans who don't know whether they are going to have a job, even though it might be their entry-level job. It might be the job that they could get in a 2 percent economy.

Some people say that we are just transferring the jobs to those who will build kiosks or robots. Well, I have got to tell you, folks, I suspect that those jobs are not minimum wage jobs, so that is not going to be of much help. And, oh, by the way, I suspect they won't be in your hometown where your Wendy's is. So if you have got a job there and it is going to be displaced or replaced with one building a kiosk, unless you are planning to move to where they are building that, that is not going to be of much solace or help to your family.

What this country needs is a pro-growth agenda to help raise everyone's wages to provide the opportunity for everyone to get started somewhere and then move up, just like I did, without hurting the people already struggling to get by. What we don't need is more liberal, wrong-headed, unilateral, ideological-driven government regulation that destroys our jobs and livelihoods.

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