Puerto Rico Oversight, Management, and Economic Stability Act

Floor Speech

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Mrs. TORRES. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Chairman, the bill, as it is currently written, allows the minimum wage for workers 25 years and under to be lowered to abysmal $4.25 for 4 years for as long as the oversight board is in place. It also fails to specify whether this reduction is limited to one 4-year period or if the request can be made over and over again, essentially keeping the lower wage indefinitely.

My amendment would strip this provision from the bill. In today's dollars, American workers haven't had a minimum wage this low since the 1940s. The young men and women of Puerto Rico are American citizens, and they don't deserve to be treated like second-class workers.

These aren't high school students with summer jobs. They are young people setting off on their careers, many of them struggling to pay off student loan debt and become self-sufficient. Lowering the wage only adds insult to injury and sends the wrong statement about whether we value Puerto Ricans as equal Americans.

The island is already experiencing a mass exodus of young people. Lowering wages will only make more young people want to leave, having a detrimental impact on Puerto Rico's current and future workforce, its tax base, and its ability to pay off its debt, ultimately digging them into a deeper hole.

If we want to help Puerto Rico overcome this current crisis, we need to make sure the island is a place where young people can see a future for themselves, start a family, and work to grow a business, not a place that devalues their work and their contributions.

The minimum wage provision in this bill is bad for these young workers and is bad for Puerto Rico.

I urge my colleagues to support my amendment.

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Mrs. TORRES. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Grayson).

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Mrs. TORRES. Mr. Chairman, I yield an additional 30 seconds to the gentleman.

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Mrs. TORRES. Mr. Chairman, how much time do I have remaining?

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Mrs. TORRES. Mr. Chairman, someone living in Puerto Rico needs to make $9.25 an hour to afford a one-bedroom apartment. If the wage is lowered to $4.25, not even two earners could afford to live there.

Mr. Chairman, there is no question that Puerto Rico will need to make sacrifices, but it can't do so on the backs of its young workforce, American citizens. This provision does not fix Puerto Rico's problems, and in the long run, it makes them worse.

I urge my colleagues to support my amendment so that Puerto Rico's recovery doesn't come at the expense of young, hardworking Americans.

Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.

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Mrs. TORRES. Mr. Chairman, I demand a recorded vote.

A recorded vote was ordered.

The vote was taken by electronic device, and there were--ayes 196, noes 225, not voting 13, as follows: [Roll No. 287] AYES--196 Adams Aguilar Ashford Bass Beatty Becerra Bera Beyer Bishop (GA) Blumenauer Bonamici Bost Boyle, Brendan F. Brady (PA) Brown (FL) Brownley (CA) Bustos Butterfield Capps Capuano Cardenas Carney Carson (IN) Cartwright Castor (FL) Castro (TX) Chu, Judy Cicilline Clark (MA) Clarke (NY) Cleaver Clyburn Cohen Connolly Conyers Cooper Costa Costello (PA) Courtney Crowley Cuellar Cummings Davis (CA) Davis, Danny DeFazio DeGette Delaney DeLauro DelBene DeSaulnier Deutch Dingell Doggett Dold Donovan Doyle, Michael F. Duckworth Edwards Ellison Engel Eshoo Esty Fattah Fitzpatrick Foster Frankel (FL) Fudge Gabbard Gallego Garamendi Gibson Graham Grayson Green, Al Green, Gene Grijalva Gutierrez Hahn Hanna Hastings Heck (WA) Higgins Himes Honda Hoyer Huffman Israel Jackson Lee Jeffries Johnson (GA) Johnson, E. B. Jolly Joyce Kaptur Katko Keating Kelly (IL) Kennedy Kildee Kilmer Kind Kirkpatrick Kuster Langevin Larsen (WA) Larson (CT) Lawrence Lee Levin Lewis Lipinski LoBiondo Loebsack Lofgren Lowenthal Lowey Lujan Grisham (NM) Lujan, Ben Ray (NM) Lynch Maloney, Carolyn Maloney, Sean Matsui McCollum McDermott McGovern McNerney Meehan Meeks Meng Moore Moulton Murphy (FL) Nadler Napolitano Neal Nolan Norcross O'Rourke Pallone Pascrell Pelosi Perlmutter Peters Peterson Pingree Pocan Polis Price (NC) Quigley Rangel Reed Rice (NY) Richmond Ros-Lehtinen Roybal-Allard Ruiz Ruppersberger Rush Ryan (OH) Sanchez, Linda T. Sanchez, Loretta Sarbanes Schakowsky Schiff Schrader Scott (VA) Scott, David Serrano Sewell (AL) Sherman Sinema Slaughter Smith (NJ) Smith (WA) Speier Swalwell (CA) Takano Thompson (CA) Thompson (MS) Titus Tonko Torres Tsongas Van Hollen Vargas Veasey Vela Velazquez Visclosky Walz Wasserman Schultz Waters, Maxine Watson Coleman Welch Wilson (FL) Yarmuth NOES--225 Abraham Aderholt Allen Amash Amodei Babin Barr Barton Benishek Bilirakis Bishop (MI) Bishop (UT) Black Blackburn Blum Boustany Brady (TX) Brat Bridenstine Brooks (AL) Brooks (IN) Buchanan Buck Bucshon Burgess Byrne Calvert Carter (GA) Carter (TX) Chabot Chaffetz Clawson (FL) Coffman Cole Collins (GA) Collins (NY) Comstock Conaway Cook Cramer Crawford Crenshaw Culberson Curbelo (FL) Davidson Davis, Rodney Denham Dent DeSantis DesJarlais Diaz-Balart Duffy Duncan (SC) Duncan (TN) Ellmers (NC) Emmer (MN) Farenthold Fleischmann Fleming Flores Forbes Fortenberry Foxx Frelinghuysen Garrett Gibbs Gohmert Goodlatte Gosar Gowdy Granger Graves (GA) Graves (LA) Graves (MO) Griffith Grothman Guinta Guthrie Harper Harris Hartzler Heck (NV) Hensarling Hice, Jody B. Hill Holding Hudson Huelskamp Huizenga (MI) Hultgren Hunter Hurd (TX) Hurt (VA) Issa Jenkins (KS) Jenkins (WV) Johnson (OH) Johnson, Sam Jones Jordan Kelly (MS) Kelly (PA) King (IA) King (NY) Kinzinger (IL) Kline Knight Labrador LaHood LaMalfa Lamborn Lance Latta Long Loudermilk Love Lucas Lummis MacArthur Marchant Marino Massie McCarthy McCaul McClintock McHenry McKinley McMorris Rodgers McSally Meadows Messer Mica Miller (FL) Miller (MI) Moolenaar Mooney (WV) Mullin Mulvaney Murphy (PA) Neugebauer Newhouse Noem Nugent Nunes Olson Palazzo Palmer Paulsen Pearce Perry Pittenger Pitts Poe (TX) Poliquin Pompeo Posey Price, Tom Ratcliffe Reichert Renacci Ribble Rice (SC) Rigell Roby Roe (TN) Rogers (AL) Rogers (KY) Rohrabacher Rokita Rooney (FL) Roskam Ross Rothfus Rouzer Royce Russell Salmon Sanford Scalise Schweikert Scott, Austin Sensenbrenner Sessions Shimkus Shuster Simpson Smith (MO) Smith (NE) Smith (TX) Stefanik Stewart Stivers Stutzman Thompson (PA) Thornberry Tiberi Tipton Trott Turner Upton Valadao Wagner Walberg Walden Walker Walorski Walters, Mimi Weber (TX) Webster (FL) Wenstrup Westerman Westmoreland Whitfield Williams Wilson (SC) Wittman Womack Woodall Yoder Yoho Young (AK) Young (IA) Young (IN) Zeldin Zinke NOT VOTING--13 Barletta Clay Farr Fincher Franks (AZ) Hardy Herrera Beutler Hinojosa Lieu, Ted Luetkemeyer Payne Sires Takai

Messrs. AUSTIN SCOTT of Georgia, NUGENT, and Ms. GRANGER changed their vote from ``aye'' to ``no.''

Mr. NOLAN changed his vote from ``no'' to ``aye.''

So the amendment was rejected.

The result of the vote was announced as above recorded.

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