Minimum Wage

MINIMUM WAGE -- (Senate - January 30, 2007)

Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, at long last, I believe we are on the verge of passing legislation that is long overdue. Soon we are going to vote on a procedural motion, known as a cloture motion, for the Fair Minimum Wage Act, which takes us one step closer to raising the minimum wage to $7.25 per hour over the next 2 years.

It has been 10 years since Congress has raised the minimum wage for the lowest paid workers in America. Since we last raised the minimum wage, its value has eroded because of inflation, the rising cost of living. Unlike our congressional pay raises, it has not kept pace with the actual cost of living in America.

The Democrats have been trying for almost 10 years to convince the majority party, then Republicans, that there
are millions of Americans who go to work every single day and still can't make enough money to provide decent daycare for their kids, pay their medical and utility bills, and provide food and other essentials that are part of every family's life.

Many of those people working for a minimum wage in Illinois make about $6.50 an hour because we raised it on a State basis in my home State. Yet they understand the need to raise the minimum wage. One woman wrote to me and said:

I can't support my daughter on the wages I have, and I have to rely on my family. I won't get a significant increase in my wages until you bump up the wages. I make about $14,000 a year. I'm sure that's nothing to you but I have to live off that.

This woman, by the way, is a college graduate trying to raise her child, trying to do the right thing.

What help has she received from this Congress over the last 10 years? Almost none. Keep in mind, she lives in a State where our minimum wage is higher than $5.15. I can't imagine, in the 21 States that are stuck at $5.15 an hour, how these folks get along.

I heard a lot of my colleagues stand up on the floor and make good speeches about family values. Let's all agree on one thing: The most important family value is helping a parent raise a child and provide the necessities of life, and $5.15 an hour will not do that.

So 6 million Americans are watching this debate. Those are the people living on the minimum wage. I urge my colleagues to keep them in mind when we get a chance to vote this afternoon.

THE ECONOMY

Mr. President, I am honored that the President of the United States is in my home State of Illinois today. He is visiting Peoria, a great city. It has a great major company, Caterpillar, which has had terrific success. Caterpillar has shown increases in revenues and profits. It is a great corporate citizen and neighbor in the Peoria area. We are proud it is doing well.

But I would like to talk for a minute about areas in Illinois that the President will not be visiting. He will not be visiting Herod, IL, which lost 1,000 jobs recently when its Maytag manufacturing plant closed; or DuQuoin, IL, where 356 manufacturing jobs were lost at Archway; and then Mount Vernon, where Joy Manufacturing lost 175 manufacturing jobs; and Pinckneyville, where Technicolor Media Services will be closing its plant on March 31, causing 444 people to lose their jobs. I could go on.

Today President Bush comes to Peoria to talk about the state of the America's economy. The reality of America's economy is that on his watch, we have lost 3 million manufacturing jobs. Some have been replaced with jobs in convenience stores, but we all know the harsh reality. A person working for a minimum wage in a convenience store is not going to be able to take care of their family similar to someone working in a manufacturing job.

We have to understand that America can do better. How can we do better? First, acknowledge that trade is part of our future; globalization is as real as gravity. But make sure the trade agreements we enter into are trade agreements that are sensible--sensible in terms of labor standards, environmental standards, and enforceable.

The one thing that troubles me the most is this Bush administration has refused to enforce the trade agreements on the books. We all know what is going on in China--currency manipulation, dumping, unfair subsidies. Under the Bush administration, in 6 years, they have only filed two complaints against China for unfair trade practices.

As we lose good-paying jobs in America to China and other countries, we need to stand up and enforce the trade agreements that this administration and others have entered. The Bush administration needs to stand up for working families and fight off unfair trade practices that steal good jobs from America.

We also have to understand another harsh reality. Most Americans today, when asked, don't believe their children will have as good a life as they have had. That is such a sad commentary in America. It reflects the fact that 47 million Americans have no health insurance. It reflects the fact that fewer and fewer Americans have a retirement plan on which they can count, and it shows us that the wages that are being paid to working families, middle-income families in America, are not keeping up with the cost of housing, the cost of utility bills, the cost of gasoline for their cars, and the cost of putting their children through college.

If you want to know the real state of the economy, don't sit down and talk to the economists. Talk to the real working families in Illinois and across America who are struggling each day to make ends meet, going deeper in debt on their credit card bills and wondering if their kids will have as good a chance in the America to come.

That is the reality of our economy. Oh, the stock market may be strong. The heads of major corporations may be making tens of millions, hundreds of millions of dollars. The Tax Code may be crafted by this administration to favor those who are doing so well. But the reality on Main Street in America is that people are struggling. We are losing manufacturing jobs. We are not enforcing our trade agreements, and we are not giving the kind of hope which they need to working families across America.

This Congress is going to start to turn that around. It will take some time. First, we are going to raise the Federal minimum wage. Then we are going to address the needs of the families who have kids in college, reduce the cost of those college student loans so kids don't end up with a mountain of debt when they finally graduate; find a way to make health care more affordable and bring down the cost of the prescription part of Medicare, Part D, so the seniors are not stuck with the highest drug bills in America.

That I hope is the real state of the economy. I hope the President will today acknowledge that reality.

IRAQ

One last point I would like to make--the major issue on the minds of most Americans is the situation in Iraq. The President now wants to send 21,000 more troops to Iraq. Many of us feel this is a serious mistake; this is a strategy which has not been thought out.

This morning's Washington Post tells a story which is ominous. It is entitled ``Equipment for Added Troops is Lacking.' It goes on to say:

New Iraq forces must make do, officials say.

And here is the grim reality. The 21,000 soldiers this President wants to send into Iraq to join the 144,000 there will go without the equipment and protection they need and deserve. This report, which comes from the Pentagon, tells us that whether we are talking about vehicles, armor kits or basic equipment, our troops will not have what they need. In fact, the statement in here is from LTG Stephen Speakes and suggests:

We don't have the [armor] kits, and we don't have the trucks. ..... He said it will take the Army months, probably until summer, to supply and outfit the additional trucks. As a result, he said, combat units flowing into Iraq would have to share the trucks assigned to units now there, leading to increased use and maintenance.

I have to ask, before we put any more soldiers in harm's way, don't we owe them the very best equipment they need so they can fight and come home safely?

Don't we owe that to them and their families?

Some argue that when we come to the floor and take exception to the policies of this administration, it undermines the morale of the troops. I couldn't disagree more. What undermines the morale of the Nation's soldiers is the notion that they have to go into combat with less than the best equipment, that they have to go into combat without the armor plate they need to come home safe and sound. That undermines morale a lot more than any debate on the floor of the Senate, and it is time for the White House and the Bush administration to answer honestly how can we escalate this war in Iraq if we don't at least improve the equipment for the troops who are going into battle? That is the reality of what our soldiers face today and have faced throughout this war in Iraq, and that is why we definitely need a new direction.

I yield the floor.

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