[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 80 (Tuesday, June 20, 2006)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6101-S6102]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         MINIMUM WAGE AMENDMENT

  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, later this week, we are going to debate 
the Department of Defense authorization bill. It is a very important 
bill. It also is one of the few times during the course of the year 
where we actually have a chance to offer amendments on very important 
issues. Most bills that come to the floor are fairly restrictive in 
terms of the procedures of the Senate. They limit what you can say and 
what you can address and the amendments that can be offered.
  On this authorization bill, in the words of the Senate, precloture 
you can offer quite a few different amendments, and many will address 
issues that don't relate directly to the Department of Defense. There 
is one Senator Kennedy will bring to the floor this week that he has 
been offering repeatedly and one that we should take up very quickly; 
that is, the question of the minimum wage in America today.
  Senator Kennedy's amendment would raise the minimum wage to $7.25 an 
hour in three steps over a period of several years--$5.85 shortly after 
enactment, $6.55 a year later, and then $7.25 a year after that. 
Increasing the minimum wage to $7.25 an hour would benefit 6\1/2\ 
million Americans, 60 percent of whom are women. These are people by 
and large who are in very low-paying jobs and are trying to raise 
children, trying to make ends meet under extremely difficult 
circumstances.

  The current minimum wage was enacted in 1997 at $5.15 an hour, which 
is barely $10,000 a year in gross wages, total wages. I cannot imagine 
a family struggling to survive that could make it on $10,000 a year. As 
a result, many people are forced to work more than one job in minimum 
wage. Many are forced to turn to pantries and soup kitchens to 
supplement the income for their families. Imagine, if you will, the 
stress most Americans feel working 40 hours a week, trying to keep up 
with their kids and trying to spend a little time with them, enjoying 
life with them on weekends, and then make that 40-hour week a 60-hour 
week and figure out how it would be, particularly if you are a single 
parent doing your level best to raise a good child.
  As this Congress has ignored the minimum wage for 9 years, we have 
said to these struggling families and parents: We are going to make the 
burden more difficult for you. Even though you get up every morning and 
go to work, which we applaud, we are not going to reward you for that. 
We are going to make it more difficult for you to keep your family 
together.
  Since Congress last increased the minimum wage in 1997 to $5.15 an 
hour, the real value of that wage has gone down 20 percent, which 
basically means the cost of living keeps going up while the minimum 
wage has been stuck at $5.15. Minimum wage workers have already lost 
all of the gains that were enacted in 1996 and 1997, when we last 
raised the minimum wage. It is amazing to me that the minimum wage has 
become a partisan football in the Congress. There was a time when 
Republican Presidents would waste no time increasing the minimum wage, 
and Republican Congresses would follow suit, understanding that this is 
very basic to the question of economic justice in America; that if the 
poorest among us don't receive enough money for going to work, it 
causes extreme hardship on them.
  The minimum wage, once created by President Roosevelt, has been each 
year, through each administration, extended. Now for 9 years we have 
done nothing, leaving the minimum wage workers in very difficult 
circumstances. If we pass Senator Kennedy's amendment--and I hope we 
do--to raise the minimum wage to $7.25 an hour, it will mean $4,400 
more a year for these families. That is significant. When you look at 
the average low-income family, they would be able to buy 15 months' 
worth of groceries; pay 19 months of utility bills, which have gone up 
dramatically since we last raised the minimum wage; pay 8 months of 
rent; over 2 years of health care for the basic low-income family; 20 
months of childcare; 30 months of college tuition at a public 2-year 
college.
  Think about that difference. A low-income mother, a single mother, 
raising children now might be able to afford good daycare for her 
children so she has peace of mind when she goes to work, knowing the 
kids are in safe hands. I have visited with families, and if they are 
not lucky enough to have a mother or a grandmother who will step in, 
some try to find a neighbor who will, and that is not always the best 
care. That has to be a source of great concern to every parent facing 
that possibility.
  I believe there is a direct correlation between the failure to raise 
the minimum wage and a dramatic increase in the number of Americans 
living in poverty.
  We used to talk about this issue. This used to be an issue which was 
debated on the floor of the Congress, about how many people were poor 
in America. We believed--and still do--that this great land of 
opportunity should offer opportunity to the poorest among us. Yet what 
we have seen is that the number of poor people has been growing 
dramatically over the last several years, while those who are well off 
are even better off. So the poor are truly poorer, and the rich are 
getting richer.
  If you look at America as a system of laws that reflect an American 
family, how can we afford to leave people behind? I don't think we can. 
Thirty-seven million Americans currently live in poverty. That is more 
than 10 percent of America. Thirteen million of those are children. 
Among full-time, year-round workers, poverty has increased by 50 
percent since the late 1970s. There was a time when we cared about 
those numbers. There was a time when President Reagan suggested 
changing the Tax Code to put in an earned-income tax credit to give the 
poorest families a helping hand. Of course, we created programs such as 
food stamps, WIC, and other programs for those low-income categories. 
There was a time when both political parties cared about the issue of 
poverty. Today, we don't discuss it. I don't know why. I believe we 
should.
  Minimum wage employees working 40 hours a week, 52 weeks a year, earn 
$10,700 a year. That is $6,000 below the

[[Page S6102]]

Federal poverty guideline of $16,600 for a family of three. We should 
be ashamed of our Nation that we have reached this point where we 
ignore what we are doing to people because of this minimum wage.
  Let me add that I salute our Governor in Illinois who, through the 
State legislation, increased Illinois' minimum wage so that we pay more 
to workers. But clearly we need to do this across the Nation and not 
leave it to the leadership of Governors. We should show leadership in 
Congress.
  Raising the minimum wage is going to help the economy, too. A lot of 
people argue otherwise. Whether it be raising the Federal or State 
minimum wage, history shows that it doesn't have a negative impact on 
the economy. That is the argument which has been used against the 
minimum wage since Roosevelt first created it; that if you raise the 
minimum wage to $1 an hour--or whatever it happened to be in the 
earliest days of the history of this legislation--somehow jobs would be 
eliminated because people would say that rather than pay a dollar an 
hour, they will hire fewer employees. That is always the argument, and 
that argument fails every time when we look at the impact of an 
increase in the minimum wage.
  In the 4 years after the last Federal minimum wage increase passed in 
Congress, the economy experienced its strongest growth in over 30 
years. Nearly 12 million new jobs were added in the late 1990s--almost 
a quarter of a million a month. So as we raised the minimum wage, the 
number of jobs didn't shrink, it dramatically increased--exactly the 
opposite of what the critics of increasing the minimum wage have argued 
for 60 years or more.
  The last raise in the minimum wage did not have a negative impact on 
my State's economy when the State of Illinois sought a minimum wage 
increase. The fact is, in the 4 years after Congress passed the last 
Federal increase, Illinois experienced great economic growth. Over 
350,000 new jobs were added to the State's economy. Even the retail 
industry, which is often cited as the industry most sensitive to the 
minimum wage, saw over 44,000 new jobs created in Illinois 4 years 
after the increase in the Federal minimum wage.
  Research shows that other States experienced similar impacts.
  A study by the Fiscal Policy Institute of 10 States that raised the 
minimum wage above the Federal rate found that both total employment 
and employment in the retail sector grew more rapidly in higher minimum 
wage States.
  And for small businesses with fewer than 50 employees, the number of 
businesses, employment, and the size of the total payroll grew faster 
in higher minimum wage States than in States where the lower minimum 
wage prevailed, exactly the opposite of what critics say if you raise 
the minimum wage: you are going to hurt the retail sector; they are 
going to have to shut down their businesses. Exactly the opposite has 
happened time and again.
  The minimum wage needs to be updated. In contrast to the first 4 
years after the Federal minimum wage took effect and created jobs, in 
the last 4 years under the Bush administration the minimum wage has 
held steady while its real value has steadily declined, and only 4.7 
million jobs have been created.
  It is one thing for politicians to give lofty speeches about values 
and family values. It is another thing to look at the rollcall on the 
minimum wage and ask those same Members who are pontificating about the 
guidance--the divine guidance--that brings them to this Chamber and 
then systematically voting against the poorest among us. That, to me, 
is a shame and something we should remedy by adopting the Kennedy 
amendment.
  We force a lot of hard-working Americans and their families to work 
longer hours, work harder to pay for the necessities. That is time away 
from their children, time away from just a little relaxation so they 
can put their lives together and face another hard week of work.
  In Illinois, a worker earning the minimum wage has to work 95 hours a 
week to afford a two-bedroom apartment. Mr. President, 11.9 percent of 
Illinois residents live in poverty, and an unacceptably low minimum 
wage is part of the problem.
  Over 20 States, including Illinois, have taken upon themselves to 
raise the minimum wage and give an economic boost to their citizens. 
After the State of Illinois raised the minimum wage in January of 2005 
to $6.50, Illinois nonfarm employment increased by 79,800 jobs. It 
didn't go down in Illinois after the minimum wage went up. It 
increased.
  Since the State raised the minimum wage, Illinois has ranked No. 1 
among all Midwest States in the total number of new jobs.
  Illinois employers have created 30,000 new jobs in the traditionally 
lower paying, higher proportion minimum wage industry sectors of 
leisure, hospitality, and trade.
  The minimum wage amendment we are debating today would give a raise 
to 333,000 workers in Illinois.
  It has been more than 9 years since the minimum wage workers last saw 
an increase in their wages. It is a delicate subject and one that 
Members of Congress do not want to discuss, but I think we have to be 
very honest about it. While we have consistently, year after year, 
denied an increase in the minimum wage to the poorest, hardest working 
Americans, we have every year without fail increased congressional pay. 
Our salaries have gone up while we have ignored the plight of the 
poorest among us.
  During the 9 years that Congress has raised its own pay by $31,600, 
we have not increased the minimum wage for the poorest workers in 
America. It isn't fair.
  How can we continue to turn a blind eye to these people who get up 
and work hard every day? Who are they? They are the people who took the 
dishes off your table at the restaurant this morning. They are the ones 
who made the bed at the hotel after you left. They are the ones who are 
watching your kids at the day-care center. They are the same ones who 
are watching your parents at the nursing home. They are the ones who 
are making sure your golf course is perfect when you go out to play 
golf. And they are the ones who get up every single day and do these 
hard jobs for very little pay.
  Why in the world are we sitting here ignoring the obvious? If you 
value families and you value workers, you should value work. To hold 
the minimum wage at $5.15 an hour for 9 years is shameful, and it 
should change.
  I urge my colleagues to support the amendment that is going to be 
offered by Senator Kennedy. I am happy to be a cosponsor of that 
amendment.
  Mr. President, how much time is remaining on the Democratic side in 
morning business?
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. DeMint). There is 1 minute remaining.

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