Raise the Wage Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding.

I like the gentleman from Pennsylvania. He and I are friends. We disagree.

I proudly voted against the tax bill which, I think, spiked the deficit, and we had a continuation of the extraordinary growth of jobs and the economy under the Obama administration, and that has continued in a straight line. It didn't spike up--straight line.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of the Raise the Wage Act. This is direct--not indirect, not trickle down, direct--saying to some of the people who worked hardest and make the least: We are going to help. We think what you do is valuable to our community and to our society.

We need to make certain that wages keep pace with the cost of living. We haven't done that. For 10 years, we haven't given a raise.

We need to value the labor that our people contribute into the economy. That is why we have a Federal minimum wage, to ensure that everyone who works hard, full time, ought to be able to afford, not simply to get by, but to try to get ahead.

I have heard from many in my district who have told me that increasing the minimum wage will have a major impact on their incomes and their lives.

Dana Hudson from Owings in Calvert County, Maryland, makes the minimum wage of $10.10 an hour and supplements his income with farming on his land. He is 60 years old and looking ahead to retirement, knowing that a higher minimum wage in his final years of working will go a long way towards giving him and his wife retirement security.

Delano Alexander of Clinton, Maryland, is an environmental services aide at Prince George's Hospital Center. He earns $12.85 an hour, presently, and if we pass this bill, he will get an income boost through the years to help him and his family get ahead.

Victor Reyes of Berwyn Heights, Maryland, started his career as a nonunion day laborer barely making a living. Now he has a union construction job, and he is earning better pay. He wrote to ask me to support a higher minimum wage so that others who are working with him and haven't found better jobs can get the same economic security he now has.

We referred to 27 million, 33 million--whatever that number is between 27 and 33--are going to get a raise by this bill. That didn't happen in the tax bill. Some of the richest people in America got a huge increase, but not the average working guy and gal.

In June, we marked 10 years since the last minimum wage increase went into effect, the longest period without an increase since the minimum wage was first introduced under Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal.

I was proud to bring legislation to the floor in 2007 to raise the minimum wage the last time Congress did so, and I am proud to do it again today. This is long overdue, something the previous Republican majority should have made a priority but failed to accomplish.

Today, low-income workers in our economy are getting a bad deal with a minimum wage that doesn't even allow many workers to get by, let alone get ahead working 40 hours a week and living in poverty. That is not a successful American economy, because 10 years have passed without an increase.

Workers stuck earning the current minimum wage of just $7.25 an hour have effectively received a 17 percent pay cut over the last 10 years. That is why the House will vote today on the Raise the Wage Act, which will gradually raise the Federal minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2025, 6 years from now.

This bill also eliminates the subminimum wage for those with disabilities, which will ensure their equal pay and the ability to live with independence.

Many States and municipalities have already raised their minimum wages to this level, and it has not caused the dire consequences that some on the other side of the aisle have predicted. My home State of Maryland took action earlier this year to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour. I am proud of that fact.

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office has determined that raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour would lift 1.3 million Americans directly out of poverty.

Isn't that a good thing to do? Doesn't that make you feel better that we are helping to lift people out of poverty?

And the Economic Policy Institute says that doing so would cause wages to go up for 33 million Americans. That is good for them.

What I suggest is, well, it is good for our economy and it is good for all of us, because it will help grow the economy, make folks more independent, and make them feel better about themselves and about what they are doing.

We campaigned on a promise to raise wages and make sure that American workers can access all the opportunities that make the American Dream possible. That is what we are doing today.

I thank Chairman Bobby Scott and Democrats on the Committee on Education and Labor for their hard work on this legislation.

We said we were going to raise the wage. Today we are going to raise the wage. It is the right thing to do. I urge every Member to support it.

Ms. FOXX of North Carolina. Mr. Speaker, Speaker Pelosi promised that a $15 minimum wage hike would be passed by the House in the first 100 hours of this Congress, so it is not surprising that 7 months later the Rules Committee accepted a manager's amendment to add a modest amount of extra time for small businesses to feel the full effect of this bill.

Also, our colleague has said that this will lift 1.3 million people out of poverty, but it is also going to knock 3.7 million people out of jobs. So, let's keep it all in perspective.

I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Allen).

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