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Providing for Consideration of H.R. 739, Occupational Safety and Health Small Business Day in Court Act of 2005; H.R. 740, Occupational Safety and ...

Date: July 12, 2005
Location: Washington, DC
Issues: Unemployed and Low-Income Health and Health Care


PROVIDING FOR CONSIDERATION OF H.R. 739, OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH SMALL BUSINESS DAY IN COURT ACT OF 2005; H.R. 740, OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH REVIEW COMMISSION EFFICIENCY ACT OF 2005; H.R. 741, OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH INDEPENDENT REVIEW OF OSHA CITATIONS ACT OF 2005; H.R. 742, OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH SMALL EMPLOYER ACCESS TO JUSTICE ACT OF 2005 -- (House of Representatives - July 12, 2005)

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Mr. DOGGETT. Mr. Speaker, today the minimum wage is at a level so low that it represents only one-third of the average hourly wage for American workers as a whole. This represents the lowest level for a minimum wage since 1949. This is not a "living wage"; it is not even a "minimum wage." It is actually a "sub-minimum wage." Today, American families need a minimum wage increase because there is no maximum on gas prices at the pump. American families need a minimum wage increase because there is no maximum on the cost of prescription drugs and a doctor's visit. American families need a minimum wage increase because there is no maximum on the cost of getting a college education.

While the Bush administration sits on its hands as gas prices, tuition expenses, housing, and health care costs go through the roof, it nails the lid shut on most hard-working Americans as to how much they can earn.

Administration friends, like Halliburton, get no-bid, billion-dollar, open-ended contracts; but the administration cannot spare an extra eight quarters and a dime for those Americans that are doing some of the hardest and dirtiest work in our society.

Republicans call debate on this issue today "out of order." I think it is really our economy that is out of order, when nurses who care for all of us cannot afford child care; when teachers' aids cannot put their own children through college; and when first responders, our police, fire fighters and EMT, cannot afford to live in the neighborhoods that they help protect.

Republicans have helped to make the richest richer than ever with one tax break after another and one special interest piece of legislation after another going through this House. Corporate executives have seen their compensation skyrocket, and the latest economic studies show that the gap between rich and poor in this country approaches Third World standards.

It is long past time for this Congress today, right now, to raise the minimum wage for those workers who are striving to climb up that economic ladder and share in the American Dream like the rest of us. Let us vote in favor of giving American workers and American families the minimum wage they deserve and do it today.

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