Waiving Requirement of Clause 6(a) of rule XIII with respect to Consideration of Certain Resolutions
WAIVING REQUIREMENT OF CLAUSE 6(a) OF RULE XIII WITH RESPECT TO CONSIDERATION OF CERTAIN RESOLUTIONS -- (House of Representatives - July 28, 2006)
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Mr. HOYER. I thank the gentleman from Massachusetts. I agree with what the gentleman has just said. The Republican leadership is opposed to raising the minimum wage, opposed to lifting 6.6 million people out of poverty. No Member of the House should harbor any illusions about what the Republican leadership is doing, therefore.
Today, the Republican leadership is engaging in a political stunt, in my opinion; a cynical sham, a cruel ploy to undermine a long overdue increase in the Federal minimum wage, an increase that would benefit literally millions of American workers and their families. Democrats have continually fought for a clean up-or-down vote on increasing the minimum wage from $5.15 to $7.25 per hour over 2 years, the first increase in 10 years.
Hear me: Groceries have not been frozen in price. Gasoline hasn't been frozen in price. Rents haven't been frozen in price. But wages of minimum-wage workers have been frozen for 10 years, and we continue to fight today about this.
The fact is, I believe a majority of the Members of this body support an increase in the minimum wage, even if the Speaker, the Majority Leader, and the majority of the House Republicans do not. But the will of the House will be thwarted today if this rule passes.
On June 12, the Appropriations Committee adopted on a bipartisan vote an amendment to the Labor, Health and Human Services and Education appropriation bill that would increase the minimum wage by $2.10 per hour over 2 years. That bill has been languishing unconsidered for the last 2 months. In response, the Republican leadership has refused to bring that appropriation bill up for a vote.
On July 13, 64 Republicans joined all Democrats in indicating their support for an increase in the minimum wage by voting for a Democratic motion to instruct on the vocational education bill. But instead of providing for a fair up-and-down vote on the minimum wage, the Republican leadership today has combined an increase in the hourly rate with an estate tax cut that will benefit the heirs of the wealthiest estates in America and drive our Nation hundreds of billions, approximately $800 billion further into debt.
If nothing else, Mr. Speaker, this bill certainly tells the American people precisely where the Republican priorities lie. Their priorities lie with Paris Hilton and other heirs of the super wealthy, not the hard-working Americans who work 40 hours a week earning a minimum wage and are living in poverty in the richest Nation on the face of the earth.
Mr. Speaker, this Republican bill wreaks of cynicism. It is a political stunt designed to give vulnerable Republicans in tough elections the opportunity to say they voted to raise the minimum wage, even though they know this bill is a shell game. We will give with one hand and take with the other.
The estate tax will not pass. It has not passed. We have already passed it. We don't need to pass it again. But it is put on this bill as a poison pill to kill it because the Republican leadership opposes raising the minimum wage. What a shame.
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