Raise the Wage Act

Floor Speech

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Mrs. TRAHAN. Mr. Speaker, I include in the Record a letter from women's community groups in support of this legislation. July 15, 2019. Pass the Raise the Wage Act

Dear Members of Congress: As members of a broad coalition of organizations that promote economic security and equity for women, we strongly urge you to pass the Raise the Wage Act as a top priority of the 116th Congress.

The Raise the Wage Act will raise the federal minimum wage from $7.25 to $15 an hour by 2024, then index the minimum wage so that it continues to rise along with wages overall. It will also end unfair exclusions for tipped workers, people with disabilities, and youth so that they, too, can benefit from a decent minimum wage.

Women across the country--especially women of color-- continue to experience a pay gap and a higher risk of poverty than men. Women working full time, year round typically make only 80 percent of what their male counterparts make, leaving a wage gap of 20 cents on the dollar. This wage gap varies by race and is larger for women of color: Black women working full time, year round typically make only 61 cents, Native women only 58 cents, and Latinas only 53 cents, for every dollar paid to their white, non-Hispanic male counterparts. While Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) women make 85 cents for every dollar paid to white, non-Hispanic men, many AAPI communities experience drastically wider pay gaps.

Women's overrepresentation in low-wage jobs is a driving force behind the gender pay gap. Women are close to two- thirds of the workforce in jobs that pay the minimum wage or just a few dollars above it, as well as two-thirds of workers in tipped jobs. Women of color are particularly overrepresented among tipped workers and other low-wage workers. They are particularly harmed by the $7.25 federal minimum wage that has not gone up in a decade and by the $2.13 tipped minimum cash wage that has been frozen for an astonishing 28 years.

Poverty-level wages heighten women's economic vulnerability, which in turn heightens their vulnerability to sexual harassment on the job. Women who rely on tips to survive often feel compelled to tolerate inappropriate behavior from customers so as not to jeopardize their income and employers are often unwilling to protect their employees for fear of upsetting a paying customer. Women's lack of economic power in these workplaces perpetuates the already pervasive culture of sexual harassment in industries that employ large numbers of tipped workers.

The Raise the Wage Act is critically needed to advance women's economic security and dignity in the workplace. The Economic Policy Institute estimates that increasing the federal minimum wage to $15 by 2024 would give nearly one in three working women a raise, including 41 percent of Black working women, 38 percent of working Latinas, 29 percent of white working women, and 18 percent of Asian working women.

Women and people of color have been left behind by our economy and our policies far too often, for far too long. Adopting the Raise the Wage Act would mark a crucial step toward ensuring they can work with equity, dignity, and safety. There is no more fitting way to begin this historic Congress than by making real, concrete progress in ensuring all women receive adequate pay.

We urge you to prioritize the Raise the Wage Act in the 116th Congress by swiftly passing this legislation. Sincerely,

9to5, National Association of Working Women; 9to5 Georgia; A Better Balance; Abortion Access Front; ACCESS; African American Health Alliance; All-Options; Amara Legal Center; American Association of University Women (AAUW); American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME).

American Federation of Teachers, AFL-CIO; AFT Local 1766 (Union of Rutgers Administrators); American Medical Student Association; American Psychological Association; Americans for Democratic Action (ADA); Arizona Coalition to End Sexual & Domestic Violence; Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance, AFL-CIO; Black Women's Roundtable; MS Black Women's Roundtable; Bucks County Women's Advocacy Coalition.

California Child Care Resource & Referral Network; Cambridge Committee to Raise the Minimum Wage; Caring Across Generations; Center for American Progress; Center for Frontline Retail; Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP); Center for Popular Democracy; Chelsea Collaborative; Citizen Action of New York; Clearinghouse on Women's Issues.

Coalition of Labor Union Women (CLUW); California Capital Chapter, CLUW; Capital Area Chapter, CLUW; Chesapeake Bay Chapter, CLUW; Chicago Chapter, CLUW; Cleveland Chapter, CLUW; Florida Chapter, CLUW; Genesee County Chapter, CLUW; Grand Prairie Arlington Chapter, CLUW; Greater Kansas City Chapter, CLUW.

Greater New Jersey Chapter, CLUW; Greater Oklahoma City Chapter, CLUW; Houston Chapter, CLUW; Kate Mullany Chapter, CLUW; King County Chapter, CLUW; Lorain County Chapter, CLUW; Los Angeles Chapter, CLUW; Metro-Detroit Chapter, CLUW; Metropolitan District of Columbia Chapter, CLUW; Missouri Chapter, CLUW.

Northeast Cleveland Chapter, CLUW; Pennsylvania State Chapter, CLUW ; Philadelphia Chapter, CLUW; Rhode Island Chapter, CLUW; San Diego Chapter, CLUW; San Francisco Chapter, CLUW; Southwestern Pennsylvania Chapter, CLUW; St. Louis Chapter, CLUW; Western New York Chapter, CLUW; Western Virginia Chapter, CLUW.

Coalition on Human Needs; Color of Change; Connecticut Women's Education and Legal Fund (CWEALF); Criminalization of Poverty Project at the Institute for Policy Studies; Day One; Domestic Violence Legal Empowerment & Appeals Project; Economic Opportunity Institute; Empire Justice Center; Equal Rights Advocates; Equality North Carolina.

Equality Ohio; Fair World Project; Federally Employed Women; Feminist Majority Foundation; Food Chain Workers Alliance; Forward Together; Found Objects Transformed; Friends Committee on National Legislation; Futures Without Violence; Gender Justice.

Health Care for America Now; If/When/How: Lawyering for Reproductive Justice; Illinois Coalition Against Sexual Assault; In Our Own Voice: National Black Women's Reproductive Justice Agenda; Innovation Ohio Education Fund; Institute for Women's Policy Research; Interfaith Worker Justice; Jewish Alliance for Law and Social Action; Jewish Women International; Jobs With Justice; Jobs With Justice, Cleveland; Jobs With Justice, St Joseph Valley Project.

Justice for Migrant Women; Kentucky Equal Justice Center; Labor Council for Latin American Advancement (LCLAA); Las Hermanas USA; Laundry Workers Center; Legal Momentum, The Women's Legal Defense and Education Fund; Maine Women's Lobby; Massachusetts Voter Table; Milwaukee Area Service & Hospitality Workers Organization (MASH); Mississippi Coalition Against Domestic Violence.

MNCASA; Moms Demand Action, Triad North Carolina; MomsRising; NAACP; NARAL Pro-Choice, North Carolina; National Alliance to End Sexual Violence; National Asian Pacific American Women's Forum (NAPAWF); National Association of Social Workers, Massachusetts Chapter; National Center for Lesbian Rights; National Coalition for the Homeless.

National Coalition of 100 Black Women, Central Ohio Chapter; National Coalition of 100 Black Women, Queen City Metropolitan Chapter; National Committee on Pay Equity; National Council of Jewish Women; National Council of Jewish Women, Arizona; National Council of Jewish Women, Greater New Orleans; National Council of Jewish Women, Pennsylvania; National Domestic Workers Alliance; National Employment Law Project; National Employment Lawyers Association.

National Immigration Law Center; National Institute for Reproductive Health (NIRH); National LGBTQ Task Force Action Fund; National Network of Abortion Funds; National Organization for Women (NOW); NOW, Louisiana; NOW, North Carolina; NOW, Raleigh; NOW, Southwest Pennsylvania; NOW, Triad North Carolina.

National Partnership for Women & Families; National Women's Law Center; National Women's Health Network; NETWORK Lobby for Catholic Social Justice; Nevada Coalition to End Domestic and Sexual Violence; New Mexico Coalition of Sexual Assault Programs; New Voices for Reproductive Justice; New York Union Child Care Coalition; North Carolina State AFL-CIO; North Carolina Women United.

Nurses for Sexual and Reproductive Health; Ohio Alliance to End Sexual Violence; Ohio Domestic Violence Network; Ohio Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice; Oklahoma Women's Coalition; Organization United for Respect; Oxfam America; Path Ways PA; Pennsylvania NOW; People For the American Way.

PHENOM (Public Higher Education Network of Massachusetts); Physicians for Reproductive Health; PL+US: Paid Leave for the United States; PowHer New York; Project IRENE; Public Justice Center; PWN-USA; Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities Coalition; Restaurant Opportunities Centers United; Restaurant Opportunities Center, Pennsylvania.

Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States (SIECUS); Shriver Center on Poverty Law; Solace Crisis Treatment Center; Tennessee Valley Coalition to End Homelessness; Tewa Women United; The Women's Law Center of Maryland; Union for Reform Judaism; Unitarian Universalist Mass Action Network; United Church of Christ, Justice and Witness Ministries; United for A Fair Economy.

United Democratic Women of MD, Inc.; URGE: Unite for Reproductive & Gender Equity; V.I. Domestic Violence & Sexual Assault Council; Valencia Shelter Services; Vermont Network Against Domestic and Sexual Violence; Voices for Progress; Washington Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs; Washington State Coalition of Sexual Assault Programs; West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy; Western Center on Law and Poverty.

Women & Girls Foundation of Southwest Pennsylvania; Women Employed; Women Lawyers of Sacramento; Women of Reform Judaism; Women's Law Project; Women's Rights and Empowerment Network; Women's Medical Fund, Pennsylvania; WomenRising, Inc.; Working Washington/Fair Work Center; Workplace Fairness.

WV FREE; Yellowhammer Fund; YWCA USA; YWCA, Dayton; ZERO TO THREE.

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Mrs. TRAHAN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to urge my colleagues to give more than 33 million deserving Americans a raise by voting for the Raise the Wage Act.

I want to commend Chairman Scott and his staff for their outstanding work to get us to this point.

The current Federal minimum wage rate hasn't budged in a decade, but basic costs have, and they have dramatically. It is an affront to basic fairness and an intolerable conditions for families working hard yet falling further and further behind.

They live on a razor's edge facing impossible choices:

Paying the rent or the car;

Buying diapers and formula for their children or medication for themselves;

Cutting a check for a student loan debt payment or a doctor's visit.

Today, a single mother with two children working full-time at $7.25 an hour is living well below the Federal poverty line. We can fix that by voting to give her a raise.

Let's do the same for the rest of America by passing the Raise the Wage Act. It is long overdue.

Ms. FOXX of North Carolina. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

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