Raise the Wage Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, pursuant to House Resolution 492, I call up the bill (H.R. 582) to provide for increases in the Federal minimum wage, and for other purposes, and ask for its immediate consideration.

The Clerk read the title of the bill.

Mr. Speaker, the idea behind the Federal minimum wage is simple: Hardworking Americans should be paid at least enough to provide for themselves and their families.

After more than a decade with no increase in the minimum wage, the longest stretch since the minimum wage was established in 1938, it is no longer serving that purpose.

Today, the Federal minimum wage is a poverty wage in every region of our Nation. Our Nation's workers deserve better.

The Raise the Wage Act, H.R. 582, gradually increases the Federal minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2025. After 2025, this legislation indexes future increases to the minimum wage to increases in the median wage so that the value does not erode over time. It gradually phases out the subminimum wages to ensure that tipped workers, youth workers, and workers with disabilities are paid at least the full Federal minimum wage.

The benefits of this legislation are significant and widespread. Economic analysis estimates that the Raise the Wage Act would increase wages for up to 33 million workers and lift 1.3 million Americans out of poverty.

The Raise the Wage Act is not just good for workers. It is good for the economy.

While the Republican tax bill gave the largest benefits to corporations and the wealthy, this bill puts money directly into the hands of workers, who will spend that money in their communities.

Today is a historic day. For the first time in more than 12 years, the House is voting to restore the value of the Federal minimum wage and restore the value of work in America.

Ms. FOXX of North Carolina.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in complete opposition to H.R. 582, a radical, risky, and unnecessary bill that puts party politics above the best interests of American workers and their families.

Increasing the Federal minimum wage by 107 percent is a harmful and unprecedented mandate that would result in millions of job losses for vulnerable Americans, small business closures, and significant damage to the U.S. economy.

A detailed study issued this month by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, CBO, estimates a $15 minimum wage would cause up to 3.7 million lost jobs--3.7 million jobs. One job lost is too many; 3.7 million jobs lost is unconscionable.

Those hurt the most by this bill would be female workers, young workers, and those with less than a high school diploma.

In our committee earlier this year, we heard testimony from Ms. Simone Barron, a restaurant worker from Seattle, Washington, where the minimum wage has already been raised to $15 per hour. Simone said that, after the city of Seattle raised the minimum wage, her employer moved her from standard a tip line to a service charge model, which resulted in her taking home less pay.

Small businesses will also suffer if this far-left policy is implemented. Without the cash reserves or profit margins to absorb the increase in labor costs, small businesses will have a choice of several bad options. Among their choices are laying off workers, raising prices on their customers, replacing workers with robots, or going out of business.

The National Federation of Independent Business estimates that businesses with fewer than 500 employees will account for 57 percent of job losses, and businesses with fewer than 100 employees will account for 43 percent of job losses.

Still, my Democratic colleagues are trying to sell this radical wage hike by claiming it will redistribute wealth and provide poor Americans with a ``living wage.'' Yet, the CBO predicts that, by 2025, there would be a $9 billion net reduction in family income resulting from a $15 minimum wage. This so-called raise would reduce pay for many American families.

Let's not forget, the U.S. economy is booming, and lesser-skilled workers are benefiting. Earlier this month, The Wall Street Journal reported that ``wages are rising at the fastest rate in a decade for lower-skilled workers, and unemployment among less-educated Americans and minorities is near a record low.''

We know from the latest jobs report that progrowth policies like the Republican Tax Cuts and Jobs Act and eliminating unnecessary regulations are raising wages, adding jobs, and reducing unemployment.

With 7.3 million unfilled jobs nationwide, job creators know they must offer competitive wages and benefits to attract and retain workers, so it is bewildering that Democrats refuse to acknowledge or celebrate the victories of our present economy and continue to call for socialist policies. Instead, they want to pass this ill-advised legislation, which would wreak havoc on the economic progress we have achieved over the last few years.

The cost of living in New York City is much higher than the cost of living in my hometown in North Carolina. With such disparities in the cost of living across the country, mandating a one-size-fits-all wage hike will cause job losses and harm entry-level workers in many regions around the country.

Even President Obama's former chairman of economic advisers, Alan Krueger, argued in October 2015 that raising the minimum wage to $15 would ``put us in uncharted waters and risk undesirable and unintended consequences.''

H.R. 582 is deeply irresponsible. Workers, families, small businesses, and the U.S. economy will suffer as a direct result of this drastic mandate.

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Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I remind my colleague that a vote against this bill is a vote to deny about 37 percent of workers in her district of North Carolina a raise of about $3,800 a year.

Bonamici), the chair of the Education and Labor Subcommittee on Civil Rights and Human Services.

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Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I remind my colleague that his vote against the bill is a vote to deny about 38 percent of the workers in his district in Pennsylvania an average wage of about $3,300 a year.

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Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I remind my colleague that his vote against this bill is a vote to deny about 41 percent of the workers in his district in South Carolina a raise of about $3,800 a year.

Wilson), the chair of the Health, Employment, Labor, and Pension Subcommittee.

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Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I remind my colleague that his vote against this bill is a vote to deny about 41 percent of the workers in his district in Tennessee an average raise of about $3,700 a year.

Adams), the chair of the Subcommittee on Workforce Protections.

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Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I remind my colleague that his vote against this bill is a vote to deny about 32 percent of the workers in his district in Michigan an average raise of about $2,300 a year. And in the CBO report that he cited, three of the most recent studies cited in that report show an actual increase in jobs, not a decrease.

I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from Washington (Ms. Jayapal), the co-chair of the Progressive Caucus, a gentlewoman who can talk specifically about Seattle.

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Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, as the gentleman has suggested, his vote against the bill is a vote to deny about 43 percent of the workers in his district in Pennsylvania an average raise of $3,900 a year, while the tax bill that he supported, 80 percent of the benefits of that bill went to the top 1 percent and corporations.

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Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I remind my colleague that his vote against this bill is a vote to deny 41 percent of the workers in his district in Georgia an average raise of about $3,800 a year, and I don't think they are laughing about that.

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Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I remind my colleague that his vote against this bill is a vote to deny about 37 percent of the workers in his district in Alabama an average wage of about $3,700 a year.

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Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I remind my colleague that his vote against the bill is a vote to deny about 34 percent of the workers in his district in Pennsylvania an average raise of $3,200, and that, in fact, wages for low-income workers have been going up, but only because States and localities have been increasing the minimum wage, just like this bill does.

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Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Pelosi), the distinguished Speaker of the United States House of Representatives.
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Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I remind my colleague that his vote against this bill is a vote to deny about 35 percent of the workers in his district in Pennsylvania an average raise of about $3,200 a year.

Wild), a distinguished member of the Committee on Education and Labor.
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Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, may I inquire as to how much time is left on both sides.

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Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I remind my colleague from Texas that a vote against this bill is a vote to deny about 30 percent of the workers in his district in Texas an average raise of about $3,800 a year.

I also will point out that the same CBO report that he cited cites the three most recent studies showing the number of jobs will actually go up as a direct result of the passage of this bill, and 27 million people are getting a raise.

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Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Velazquez), the chair of the Committee on Small Business.
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Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. DeLauro), the chair of the Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies Subcommittee of the Appropriations Committee.

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Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Lee).

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Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, may I inquire again as to the time remaining on both sides.

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Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Maloney), the vice chair on the Joint Economic Committee.

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Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. I yield the gentlewoman such time as she may consume.

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Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Jackson Lee), a leader of the Judiciary Committee.

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Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Will the Chair please tell me how much time is remaining.

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Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I would just like to say that youth workers--we have heard about youth workers--should not be paid less for the same work than anyone else. Several of my colleagues have pointed out that there may be a $9 billion loss in income. According to the CBO, that comes from families making more than $232,000 a year. Families making less than that will get an increase in pay.

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank all of my colleagues, including members of the Committee on Education and Labor and Representatives across the Nation who have been instrumental in advancing this legislation. But most of all, I want to recognize the workers in communities across the country who stood up and demanded a fair day's pay for a fair day's work. There are some of them with us today, the Fight for $15 workers, the SEIU workers, and others from across the country.

I also want to acknowledge a broad coalition of business support, including Business for a Fair Minimum Wage and the U.S. Women's Chamber of Commerce.

Proposals to increase the minimum wage are always met with the same baseless predictions we have heard today. Opponents cried wolf in the 1930s, and we should not fear the impact of putting money in workers' pockets or, as President Roosevelt said in a fireside chat way back in 1938: ``Do not let any calamity-howling executive with an income of $1,000 a day . . . tell you . . . that a wage of $11 a week is going to have a disastrous effect on all American industry.''

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to take that advice, pass the Raise the Wage Act and give a raise to 33 million Americans. It is a raise that is long overdue.

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