[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 62 (Tuesday, April 29, 2014)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2524-S2526]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            The MINIMUM WAGE

  Mr. MERKLEY. I rise in this Chamber to address an issue that is 
critical to working families across our Nation; that is, the Federal 
minimum wage.
  First, I thank Senator Tom Harkin for his leadership on this issue. 
He has advocated year after year, decade after decade that we need to 
ensure that we have an economy where workers fully participate in the 
fruits of their labor.
  We should not have a society in which all of those fruits go simply 
to the very few at the expense of a fair wage for those who create that 
success. I thank Senator Harkin for leading this fight over this 
extended period of time on behalf of working families.
  He believes, as I believe, that we should measure the success of our 
Nation not by the growth of the GDP, not by having one eye on the Dow 
Jones and one eye on the S&P 500, we should measure the success by the 
success of our families. That is what this debate on the minimum wage 
is all about.
  This issue matters a great deal to me because I come from a blue-
collar family. My father was a mechanic. He employed those skills in a 
sawmill. He was the millwright, the person who keeps the machinery 
going so the plant can keep operating. When it is operating, there is 
work for the workers, and there is certainly success for the company. 
He went on to work as a mechanic in many other ways.
  On that mechanic's wage, he was able to raise a family and 
participate fully in the American dream. He and my mother were able to 
buy a home. They could afford to take us camping. They could afford to 
save a little bit to help us be able to go to college. That is what 
happens when workers get to participate in the success of our economy.
  A minimum wage is part of this story because it is the foundation and 
the benchmark that helps set wages throughout the economy.
  In the time period after World War II, our economy grew quickly, our 
wages

[[Page S2525]]

grew quickly, and workers took those wages and they bought products, 
and that demand fueled further production, which put more people to 
work. It was an upward cycle.
  But more recently we have had a philosophy imposed, advocated, and 
put forward by the top 1 percent that if all the growth in revenue 
comes to them, they will be the job makers. They will be the job 
creators and everyone else will thrive.
  If there was ever a moment in U.S. history when the complete 
falseness of this philosophy was evident, it is right now, because from 
2008 until now, 95 percent of the newly created wages have gone to the 
1 percent, to the very top. So we should have more jobs than we know 
what to do with on the philosophy that has been advocated so recently 
on the floor of this Senate, that we should minimize the wages at the 
bottom to maximize the profits at the top.
  That is a downward spiral for a very clear reason, and it is this: 
People don't make things in society if the middle class doesn't have 
the money in their pockets to buy them. If they don't have the money, 
they don't go to the restaurant, the restaurant doesn't hire the 
waiter, and the restaurant doesn't hire the dishwasher. It doesn't open 
a new outlet and employ more people.
  There are certainly many factors that have contributed to shrinking 
paychecks for working Americans, but the declining purchasing power of 
the Federal minimum wage is a major factor.
  The Federal minimum wage sets an important standard for how the 
contributions of working families are valued. The minimum wage sets a 
floor on wages. It is a benchmark not only for minimum wage workers but 
for our entire wage scale. When the minimum wage goes up, the value 
placed on working Americans all across the economy goes up.
  In 1968, when I was 12 years old, the Federal minimum wage was 
equivalent in today's dollars to about $10.50, unlike the wage we have 
now which is $7.25. So the purchasing power has roughly dropped by one-
third, and that is not to the benefit of the workers, that is not to 
the benefit of all of the small businesses that provide retail services 
that benefit when a worker can afford to buy those services.
  Putting money into the pockets of minimum wage workers lifts millions 
of working families directly. It lifts millions more because of the 
indirect effect of providing more demand for products in the economy.
  Today a worker who works 40 hours per week at the Federal minimum 
wage makes barely $15,000 per year. That puts a family of two below the 
poverty line. That is poverty despite the fact the mother is working 
full time 52 weeks a year. A family of three puts them further below 
the poverty line because of the additional expenses of taking care of a 
second child. That is wrong.
  The more we look at the numbers, the more it becomes clear that the 
current minimum wage is insufficient to provide a foundation for a 
family. We need to raise the minimum wage because there is no way to 
support a family on $7.25 per hour, less than $15,000 per year.
  A recent study estimated that a worker paid the Federal minimum wage 
in States as diverse as Minnesota, Texas, and Pennsylvania would have 
to work more than 90 hours per week to afford rent on a market-rate 
two-bedroom apartment--90 hours per week, more than two full-time jobs, 
13 hours of work per day, Monday through Sunday. Imagine working from 9 
a.m. to 10 p.m. on your feet, getting up, doing it day after day, week 
after week, and still you can't afford rent on a two-bedroom 
apartment--no breaks, no vacations, no sick days, no benefits, and you 
can't afford rent on a two-bedroom apartment.
  Without a minimum wage that comes closer to families' real costs of 
living, our economy will continue to leave behind too many hard-working 
Americans. The legislation we are debating this week would raise the 
Federal minimum wage to $10.10 per hour and index it to inflation to 
sustain the purchasing power. That doesn't get us back to the 
purchasing power of 1968, but at least it comes a lot closer.

  Let us understand what we are talking about. We are not talking about 
an entry wage for teenagers. The vast majority of folks who earn the 
minimum wage are adults--far more than 80 percent. More than four out 
of five are adults, more than half of whom are women. The earnings of 
these families contribute to the support of nearly one in four American 
children.
  Contrary to the arguments made for the superwealthy and couched in 
sympathy for the poor we heard a few minutes ago on this floor, this 
minimum wage would lift 4.6 million Americans out of poverty. It would 
give America's low-wage workers paychecks that better reflect their 
contribution, their work, and their value in our economy.
  Some in this Chamber, as we heard not so many minutes ago, would try 
to convince us that this is bad for business. Nothing could be farther 
from the truth. For proof, just look to the Northwest. In Oregon, we 
know this model works because Oregon has road-tested the model. We 
don't need to have theoretical debates about it; we have a real-life 
example in the State of Oregon. Our minimum wage has been indexed since 
2002. It sits at $9.10 per hour. Indexing enables businesses to plan 
for small and steady increases rather than to speculate about potential 
dramatic leaps.
  Oregon's restaurant industry, one of the largest employers of workers 
at Oregon's higher minimum wage, is projected to grow faster than the 
national average--faster. In fact, a higher minimum wage may well 
create jobs. The reason is simple: When workers have more in wages in 
their pockets, they spend more in our retail stores, which then hire 
more workers to meet the demand. When the retail stores sell more to 
the workers who have more money in their pocket, they order more from 
the factory and the factory employs more workers. A study by the 
Economic Policy Institute found the higher minimum wage we are debating 
would create 85,000 jobs.
  Strengthening our Federal minimum wage is, at its core, about basic 
respect and basic fairness. It is about recognizing there is dignity in 
work and that when we allow working families to fall farther and 
farther down the wage chain we all pay the price. Consider the many 
aspects that take away from our society. A mother who has to pursue 
four minimum wage jobs to try to fill in when the earnings from one or 
more jobs are too low to support a family means she is not at home 
helping to guide her child. That is not helping to build a strong and 
productive future for that child or for our society in general.
  It doesn't matter whether you are a CEO or a janitor, if you work 
full time in America, you should not be living in poverty. If we pay 
the janitor a little more, it helps a lot more people than just that 
one worker. Those wages go straight back into the broader economy that 
the CEO and his or her company depend upon.
  So let's do what is right for our workers. Let's do what is right for 
our economy. Let's pass this bill and restore the power of the minimum 
wage for America's working families.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Donnelly). The Senator from Hawaii.
  Ms. HIRONO. Mr. President, I rise in support of the Minimum Wage 
Fairness Act because it is time to give everyone a fair shot. More and 
more States are voting to raise the minimum wage. Last week, the Hawaii 
State legislature passed a bill to raise the minimum wage in my home 
State. Hawaii's bill would increase the wage from $7.25 to $10.10, and 
increase the tip wage to at least $9.35.
  Hawaii will become the tenth State enacting a wage increase since 
President Obama's 2013 State of the Union Address. In 2014 alone, 
Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, Minnesota, West Virginia, and 
Washington, DC have enacted wage increases. Hawaii will become the 26th 
State with the higher minimum wage than the current Federal minimum 
wage. It is time for Congress to join with the States that are leading 
the charge to give hard-working families a raise.
  I am going to share a few reasons why the Senate should vote to raise 
the minimum wage. First, today's Federal minimum wage is a poverty 
wage. If the minimum wage had kept up with inflation since 1968, the 
minimum wage today would be about $10.68. This

[[Page S2526]]

means that minimum-wage workers today earn less than $15,000 per year 
working full time. If someone is supporting a child or an elderly 
parent, that would put their family income below the Federal poverty 
line.
  The bill we are considering today would raise the Federal minimum 
wage from $7.25 to $10.10 by 2016 and index it to inflation afterward. 
Increasing the minimum wage to $10.10 would help lift nearly a million 
workers and their families out of poverty.
  In Hawaii, raising the minimum wage will bring more than 12,000 
people above the Federal poverty level.
  Second, the minimum wage is a woman's issue. Growing up, my mother 
was a single parent. We were an immigrant family. She raised three 
children by herself on very low wages. I know what it is like to run 
out of money at the end of the month and what it is like for every dime 
to matter. Nationwide, nearly two-thirds of minimum-wage workers are 
women. In Hawaii, increasing the minimum wage will give 54,000 women a 
raise. One out of five Hawaii women workers will get that raise. That 
is important to the women in my State, where the cost of living is 
high.
  During the legislative debate on this issue in Hawaii, numerous 
advocacy groups came forward to provide testimony on why the minimum 
wage should be increased in Hawaii. These included representatives from 
churches, unions, individual parents, students, and others. For 
example, Dr. Lori Kamemoto is an ob-gyn who came forward to testify. 
She told of her work in health clinics where many of her patients are 
minimum-wage workers. She testified:

       The majority of patients I saw at the free clinic worked 
     multiple minimum wage jobs, and each job made sure that they 
     did not give my patient enough work hours to qualify for 
     health insurance or benefits. Oftentimes, a patient would not 
     be able to afford the medication needed for her health 
     condition. She had a choice to either pay for her children's 
     food or the recommended medication.

  Another testifier, Laura Finlayson, is a student at Hawaii Pacific 
University. She testified:

       As someone who has worked several minimum wage jobs, I have 
     experienced firsthand how the low wages perpetuate the cycle 
     of poverty. . . . Many must also rely on government aid in 
     order to make ends meet.

  These stories and countless others show why we must raise the minimum 
wage.
  Many workers in Hawaii are tipped workers. The tipped minimum wage is 
especially far behind. I have met restaurant workers who can't afford 
to eat in the very restaurants in which they work. Take the example of 
Nyah Potts, whom I met recently. She is a tipped worker. She works in a 
restaurant in the Reagan Building in Washington, DC. Due to her low 
wages, she has had to choose between buying diapers for her child or 
eating lunch that day. She decided to do something about her situation. 
Joining with her fellow workers and advocacy groups, she pushed the 
administration to raise the minimum wage for Federal contract workers. 
Nyah and her coworkers will now get a raise. It is time to give 
everyone in America a raise.

  There is a common myth that tipped workers are teenagers just 
starting out. That is false. Eighty-eight percent of workers in tipped 
occupations are age 20 and over, and 45 percent are 30 or older.
  Back in 2007, the last time Congress raised the minimum wage, the 
restaurant industry with its many tipped workers said it would cost 
their industry jobs. This did not happen. In fact, in 2013 the 
restaurant industry forecast said ``restaurants remain among the 
leaders in job creation.'' The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that 
between 2007 and 2013, restaurants added 724,000 jobs.
  There is a misconception that all tipped workers are servers at fancy 
restaurants. This is also not true. Many people who work at the 
airport, who help you get your bags, who help you make it to your gate 
on time, are also tipped workers. Tipped workers include bar-backs, 
bellhops, parking attendants, car washers, airport wheelchair workers, 
and many people don't even realize that these workers need tips to 
survive.
  On average, hourly wages for tipped workers are almost 40 percent 
lower than overall hourly wages. The fact is, raising the minimum wage 
is not just good for workers, it is also good for the economy. That is 
why a survey of small business owners found that three out of five 
small business owners supported raising the minimum wage. They 
understand a higher minimum wage would increase consumer spending on 
their goods and services. That is because minimum-wage workers spend 
new money from higher wages right away at local businesses in their 
communities.
  In addition to the restaurant industry I referred to earlier, there 
are other persistent critics who claim raising the minimum wage will 
cost jobs. Some cite a Congressional Budget Office report that only 
looked at old studies and not the latest research. The fact is, the 
latest academic studies say a higher minimum wage increases consumer 
spending and does not cost jobs.
  A March Goldman Sachs report said that States which raised their 
minimum wage in 2014 actually created more jobs than other States that 
didn't raise the minimum wage. Six hundred economists, including 7 
Nobel prize winners, have endorsed a minimum wage of $10.10.
  Raising the minimum wage also saves taxpayers money on social 
services, as many of my colleagues have already noted. The current 
minimum wage leaves many below the poverty line and eligible for 
assistance such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, SNAP, 
or food stamps. If we raise the minimum wage from $7.25 to $10.10, we 
reduce taxpayer costs for SNAP benefits by $4.6 billion a year. In 
Hawaii, over 15,000 workers would no longer need SNAP benefits. This 
would save nearly $40 million in Hawaii alone.
  In America, we believe that if you work hard and play by the rules, 
you can get ahead. It is time for Congress to follow the example of 
Hawaii and other States that have raised their minimum wages. They are 
doing the right thing. It is time for Congress to do what is right. 
Let's give America a raise so all Americans can have a fair shot.

                          ____________________