Raise the Wage Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. TAKANO. Mr. Speaker, I include in the Record a letter from the National Employment Law Project in support. July 16, 2019.

The undersigned organizations enthusiastically support the Raise the Wage Act of 2019, introduced by Senators Bernie Sanders (VT) and Patty Murray (WA), Representatives Robert C. ``Bobby'' Scott (VA), Mark Pocan (WI) and Stephanie Murphy (FL).

If enacted, this legislation would:

Gradually raise the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour in 2025;

After 2025, adjust the minimum wage each year to keep pace with growth in the typical worker's wages;

Phase out the outdated subminimum wage for tipped workers, which has been frozen at a meager $2.13 since 1991; and,

Sunset the much criticized ability of employers to pay workers with disabilities a subminimum wage through certificates issued by DOL.

Phase out the subminimum wage for workers under the age of 20.

At a time when wage stagnation and income inequality pose serious threats to our families and our economy, the Raise the Wage Act of 2019 will begin to reverse that cycle and raise pay broadly across the bottom of the workforce. According to the Economic Policy Institute, this Act will deliver long-overdue raises to more than 1 in 4 workers, 90% of whom are over the age of 20. The average age of workers who would get a raise is 35, nearly half have some years of college education. In fact, those who work year-round would see a raise in the order of $3,000 a year, which is enough to make a tremendous difference in the life of a preschool teacher, bank teller, or fastfood worker who today struggles to get by on around $20,000 per year.

28 percent are working parents with children, and half have family incomes of less than $40,000 per year. Women make up nearly 58 percent of the workers who would benefit from a $15 minimum wage, which would be instrumental in helping to close the gender-wage-gap. Raising the minimum wage to $15 would also significantly benefit workers of color, with 38 percent of African American workers and 33 percent of Latinos seeing a pay increase once this law goes into effect.

These are the frontline workers who make America run--yet due to the erosion of the real value of the minimum wage over the last half century, they are struggling even as our economy enjoys a solid recovery.

The time for the Raise the Wage Act is long overdue, and we cannot delay in working toward its passage. We call on Congress to enact this important piece of legislation as quickly as possible, and for President Trump to sign it when it comes to his desk. Sincerely,

RI Coalition of Labor Union Women (CLUW); Raise Minimum Wages; Raise the Wage PA; Raise-Op Housing Cooperative; Refuge Ministries Tampa Bay; Regina Mundi Inc.; Religious Institute; Restaurant Opportunities Center of Michigan (ROC- MI); Restaurant Opportunities Center of Pennsylvania; Restaurant Opportunities Centers United RESULTS Raleigh; RESULTS-Santa Fe; Rural Coalition; Rural Coaltion & Alianza Nacional de Campesinas; Rural Community Workers Alliance; Sacramento Housing Aliiance; Sacramento Regional Coalition to End Homelessness; SafeHouse Denver, Inc; San Diego Hunger Coalition; San Gabriel Valley-Whittier NOW.

Santa Fe NOW; Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law; Sconiers Homeless Preventive Organization Inc; Seattle Human Services Coalition; Seattle/King County Coalition on Homelessness; Second Harvest Food Bank of Lehigh Valley and Northeast Pennsylvania; SEIU Healthcare Pennsylvania; Service Employees International Union; Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States (SIECUS); Sherwood Community Services; SIA Legal Team; Sinsinawa Dominican Peace and Justice Office; Sister Reach; Sisters of Charity Federation; Sisters of Mercy in NH; Sisters of Mercy West Midwest Community Justice Team; Sisters of Saint Mary of Namur; Sisters of St Joseph of Chambery Justice and Peace Committee; Sisters of St. Dominic of Blauvelt, New York; Sisters of St. Francis, Clinton, Iowa Leadership Team.

Sisters of the Holy Spirit and Mary Immaculate; Sisters of the Most Precious Blood of O'Fallon, MO; Social Action Linking Together (SALT); SocioEnergetics Foundation; outh Carolina Christian Action Council, Inc.; South Dakota Chapter of the National Association of Social Workers; Southern HIV/ AIDS Strategy Initiative (SASl)/Duke University School of Law; Southern Mutual Help Association, Inc.; Southern Poverty Law Center; Southfield Community Church; Southwest PA National Organization For Women; Southwest Women's Law Center; Sravasti Abbey; St. James Infirmary; St. Louis CLUW Chapter; St. Louis Gateway District Area Local--APWU 8; St. Louis Gateway District Area Local APWU--POWER Sisters; TASH; Tax Fairness Oregon; Tax March.

Tenderloin Neighborhood Development Corporation (TNDC); Tennessee Citizen Action; Tennessee Justice Center; Texas Employment Lawyers Association; THE ABCD, INC; The Commonwealth Institute for Fiscal Analysis; The Farmworker Association of Florida; The Greater Boston Food Bank; The HUB for Progress; The Praxis Project; The Public Interest Law Project; The Washington Initiative for Supported Employment; The Welcome Church; TMS Enterprises; Toledo Area Jobs with Justice & Interfaith worker Justice Coalition; Transition Services, Inc.; Transport Workers Union of America; Treatment Action Group (TAG); Trillium Employment Services; Tzedek DC.

UCSF; UETHDA Head Start; Ultra Violet; UnidosUS; Union for Reform Judaism; Union of Sisters of the Blessed Virgin Mary, USA UNIT; United Food and Commercial Workers International Union; United Food and Commercial Workers Local 227; United Food and Commercial Workers Local 75; United for a Fair Economy; United For Respect; United Steelworkers (USW); University Church; University of New Mexico Community and Regional Planning Department; Upper East Tennessee Human Development Agency; URGE: Unite for Reproductive & Gender Equity; Vennmedia: A Nonprofit Media Enterprise; Virginia Employment Lawyers Association; Voices for Progress; Vote- Climate.

Wage Equality; Washington Anti-Hunger & Nutrition Coalition; Washington Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs; Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless; Washington State Budget & Policy Center; Washington State Community Action Partnership; Watertown Citizens for Peace, Justice & the Environment; We The People--Pennsylvania; Wellstone Democratic Renewal Club; West Valley Neighborhoods Coalition; West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy; Western Center on Law and Poverty; Western NY Chapter Coalition of Labor Union Women; Western Pennsylvania Employment Lawyers Association (WPELA); WHEAT--World Hunger Education, Advocacy & Training; Whitman-Walker Health; Windham Area Interfaith Ministry.

Wisconsin Faith Voices for Justice; Women Employed; Women's Fund of Rhode Island; Women's Law Project; Worcester County Food Bank; Worker Justice Center of New York; Working Families Party; Working Partnerships USA; Workplace Fairness; Young Progressives Demanding Action; Youth Care; YWCA of the University of Illinois; YWCA Seattle | King | Snohomish; YWCA USA; YWCA Utah.

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Mr. TAKANO. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 582, the Raise the Wage Act.

There is currently no place in America where a worker making $7.25 per hour can afford a two-bedroom apartment. Millions of families are struggling to make ends meet. As one of the richest countries in the world, we should be ashamed.

This bill will give 27 million workers a raise and lift 1.3 million people out of poverty. Helping low-income workers is long overdue.

Contrary to what my Republican colleagues have been saying, raising the minimum wage is popular among American workers. That is why voters in States like California, Arkansas, Arizona, and Missouri have voted to increase their State minimum wages.

Congress has the opportunity to restore the value of work, lift families out of poverty, and ensure a fair wage for workers everywhere in America.

I urge all my colleagues to vote in support of workers and families by supporting the Raise the Wage Act.

Ms. FOXX of North Carolina.

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