[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 2 (Friday, January 5, 2007)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E32]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             INTRODUCING THE FAIR MINIMUM WAGE ACT OF 2007

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. GEORGE MILLER

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Friday, January 5, 2007

  Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California. Madam Speaker, as part of this first 
100 hours of the 110th Congress, I am proud to introduce the Fair 
Minimum Wage Act of 2007. The introduction of this bill provides 
Congress with a long-overdue opportunity to stand up for the dignity of 
those 5.6 million workers in the United States making minimum wage, or 
near minimum wage.
  The Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2007 would increase the federal minimum 
wage to $7.25 per hour in three steps over two years. Under this bill, 
sixty days after enactment, the wage would rise from the current $5.15 
per hour to $5.85 per hour. One year later, it would rise to $6.55. And 
a year after that, it would finally rise to $7.25 per hour. The bill 
also extends federal minimum wage coverage, under a separate timetable, 
to the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.
  For almost a decade, the federal minimum wage has remained at just 
$5.15 an hour. The nation's poorest workers have suffered through the 
longest period in the history of the law without a pay raise. As a 
result of congressional inaction, the real value of the minimum wage 
has hit a 51-year low. If the rate remains unchanged in 2007, a minimum 
wage employee working full-time will earn only $10,712, which is $5,888 
less than the $16,600 needed to lift a family of three out of poverty. 
This is unconscionable. These Americans have suffered at poverty wages 
for far too long. It is time for Congress to demonstrate that it values 
hard work.
  Nearly 13 million American workers will see their pay rise as a 
result of the Fair Minimum Wage Act--5.6 million workers directly and 
7.4 million workers indirectly. This number includes 7.7 million women, 
3.4 million parents, and 4.7 million people of color. 79 percent of 
these workers are adults, and the majority of these workers work full-
time.

  Families with affected workers rely on those workers for more than 
half of their family's income. 46 percent of child-rearing families 
with affected workers rely solely on the earnings from those workers. 
If this bill becomes law, over 6.3 million children would see their 
parents' income rise. For a family of three this means an additional 
$4,400 a year, equaling 15 months worth of groceries or two years worth 
of health care for these families. It will mean greater dignity on the 
job.
  Congress has a moral duty to raise the minimum wage. Churches, 
synagogues, and other faith groups are calling on Congress to support 
the Fair Minimum Wage Act. In this country, an average CEO earns more 
before lunchtime in one day than a minimum wage worker earns all year. 
This is a moral outrage in the richest country on earth. With the costs 
of health insurance, gasoline, and college tuition increasing, it is 
important, now more than ever, that we raise the minimum wage so that 
these hard working Americans are able to meet basic human needs.
  Raising the minimum wage is not only the right thing to do, it is 
also economically prudent. Increasing the minimum wage will help boost 
the economy as a whole, putting more money into the hands of those 
people who need it and will spend it--indeed, spend it on basic 
necessities. Last year, some 665 economists, including several Nobel 
Laureates, signed a statement in support of raising the minimum wage. 
As they explained, the ``minimum wage helps to equalize the imbalance 
in bargaining power that low-wage workers face in the labor market. The 
minimum wage is also an important tool in fighting poverty.''
  Raising the minimum wage is critical to fighting the middle class 
squeeze in this country. America's middle class is this country's 
economic backbone. It is what makes us strong. Yet the middle class is 
shrinking. Since 2001, the number of Americans living in poverty has 
increased by 5.4 million, to 37 million. More than one in six American 
children now lives in poverty. The Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2007 is an 
important first step for this new Congress in its efforts to stand up 
for the middle class and to stem the squeeze.

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