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Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2007

Date: Jan. 10, 2007
Location: Washington, DC
Issues: Unemployed and Low-Income


FAIR MINIMUM WAGE ACT OF 2007 -- (House of Representatives - January 10, 2007)

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Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, after a decade of inaction by the Republican majority, we stand to vote today on one of the most critical issues facing working Americans.

For years, the chairman of the Education and Labor Committee, Mr. MILLER, led our efforts to bring the minimum wage more in line with this country's growing cost of living. We pushed for a clean, up or down vote. But instead, as the 109th Congress winded down, we were presented with a muddled package of bills, and once again, the will of the American people was pushed aside to accommodate corporate interests.

So, I must commend Speaker PELOSI and Majority Leader HOYER for including this minimum wage increase in our first 100 hour commitment to working Americans. For the 6.5 million minimum wage earners throughout the country, this bill amounts to an additional $4,400 each year. That alone would cover: 15 months of groceries; over two years of health care; and two and a half years of college tuition at a public, 2 year college.

Ultimately, up to 13 million low-wage workers will be helped by this increase.

Right now the average CEO of a Fortune 500 Company earns $10,712 in 1 hour and 16 minutes. It takes the average minimum wage worker 52 40-hour weeks--an entire year to earn the same $10,712. That's wrong, and we're going to fix it.

And, let's be clear, there is no evidence to support the Republican claim that an increase in minimum wage leads to job loss. For proof, we only need to look at the twenty-eight states and the District of Columbia that have set minimum wages that are higher than the federal minimum wage. In fact, a May 2006 study released by the Center for American Progress and Policy Matters found that employment in small businesses grew more than 9.4% in states with higher minimum wage; and inflation-adjusted business payroll growth was over 5% stronger in high minimum wage states. A 1998 study by the Economic Policy Institute found that unemployment and poverty rates actually dropped after the last increase in the federal minimum wage in 1997.

Working Americans are the backbone of our nation, and this increase is long overdue. I urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to join me in supporting this legislation.

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