[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 50 (Wednesday, March 25, 2015)]
[House]
[Pages H2023-H2024]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




     CONGRESSIONAL PROGRESSIVE CAUCUS: THE BUDGET'S IMPACT ON WOMEN

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 6, 2015, the gentlewoman from New Jersey (Mrs. Watson Coleman) 
is recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the minority leader.


                             General Leave

  Mrs. WATSON COLEMAN. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all 
Members have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and 
include extraneous material on the subject of my Special Order.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentlewoman from New Jersey?
  There was no objection.
  Mrs. WATSON COLEMAN. Mr. Speaker, earlier today, my colleagues and I 
debated and passed a budget about which I have quite a few concerns.
  Budgets are statements of values. They should map out the priorities 
we have for our Nation. The resolution that the House adopted earlier 
suggests that our priorities are the interests of the top 1 percent of 
earners, the interests of corporations. Certainly, not the interests of 
working families.

                              {time}  1915

  Mr. Speaker, according to a Pew Center analysis of census data, 4 out 
of every 10 households with children now have a mother who is either 
the sole or primary bread winner. That means that 40 percent of 
families are led by woman.
  As we approach the end of Women's History Month, my Congressional 
Progressive Caucus colleague and I have come to the floor this evening 
to talk about the impacts of the Republican budget on women.
  As I have said, women now lead 40 percent of our Nation's households 
with children, a huge socioeconomic shift for this country; but when 
you dig deeper, 25 percent of those households are single-parent homes 
where women are the only provider. Those women need health care to be 
able to keep going to work. As we know, Mr. Speaker, not every employer 
offers health care.
  Fortunately, 5 years ago, we passed the Affordable Care Act, and now, 
more than 16 million Americans have access to health insurance, many of 
them for the first time.
  The Affordable Care Act gave women more control over their health 
than

[[Page H2024]]

they have ever had before, with free preventative care, including 
annual screenings, and free coverage for contraceptives. There were 
also a host of benefits, economic and otherwise.
  The Congressional Budget Office projects that combined Federal 
spending for Medicare, Medicaid, and the Children's Health Insurance 
Program, commonly referred to as CHIP, will be $682 billion less over 
the 2011-2020 period than projected in 2010 without the Affordable Care 
Act.
  Our national healthcare costs have, indeed, slowed dramatically. The 
uninsured rate for working-age adults dropped 35 percent, from 20.3 to 
13.2 percent; but it seems that all the bill's benefits don't mean much 
to my Republican colleagues who have found a huge and factually 
questionable portion of their budget's ``savings'' from repealing the 
law.
  Mr. Speaker, we have just discussed the impact of health care and the 
Republicans' budget repeal of the ACA. Without access to the health 
care they need for themselves and their families, Republicans must be 
assuming that women will be able to take paid time off for work. 
Unfortunately, we passed the wrong budget for that.
  To tell you a little more about this problem, it is my pleasure to 
yield to the gentlewoman from Michigan (Mrs. Lawrence).
  Mrs. LAWRENCE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to urge this House to 
supports the people's budget.
  The Federal budget is not just a financial document; it is a moral 
document. The best way to grow our economy is to ensure that Americans 
have good jobs that pay a livable wage.
  The numbers that you just heard is a fact. In 40 percent of 
households with children under 18, mothers are either the only or the 
primary source of income for the family. Many of these mothers do not 
have the support of affordable childcare, paid family leave, or paid 
sick days.
  Increasing the minimum wage and providing paid medical or sick leave 
will have a direct positive impact on millions of working mothers. As 
of last month, 3 States and 17 cities will soon have or now have paid 
sick leave day laws. This is a good start, but, as Members of Congress, 
we need to set a national standard, and we need to do it now.
  Our Nation's failure to establish a basic workplace standard of paid 
sick days is hurting workers, is hurting families and the public 
health. Nearly 4 in 10 private sector workers and 80 percent of the low 
wage workers do not have a single paid sick day. Is that what we want 
our budget to reflect?
  The Republicans say they are for families; yet their budget 
represents more of the same. The budget that the Republicans have 
introduced doesn't invest in growing our infrastructure. It cuts vital 
programs like Medicaid and helps keep working families in poverty. This 
is totally unacceptable. Paid sick days keep families financially 
secure, workplaces and communities healthy and productive.
  The Institute for Women's Policy Research calculates that the Federal 
Government could prevent over 2,600 lost jobs for women. Why? Because 
2,600 women left their jobs because they were not offered paid parental 
leave.
  The people's budget will create over 8 million good-paying new jobs 
by 2018. The people's budget also ensures that our tax codes work for 
everyone by closing tax loopholes and expanding the earned income tax 
credit and the child tax credit.
  Mr. Speaker, I support the people's budget because deficit reduction 
should not be fixed on the backs of hard-working Americans. We must put 
people first. Do you pay your car note before you buy groceries for 
your family? No.
  I agree that we must pay down the deficit; but at what cost?
  There are many things we must cover in our Federal budget, but, Mr. 
Speaker, people must be first.
  Mrs. WATSON COLEMAN. I thank the gentlewoman from Michigan.
  Mr. Speaker, with more women as the primary breadwinners than ever, 
it is important to point out that two-thirds of the minimum wage 
workers are women.
  Women are notoriously underrepresented with equal pay for equal work. 
The Federal minimum wage right now is only $7.25 per hour. A woman 
working full time would make just $14,500. That is below the poverty 
line for a family of three.
  If we want to make sure American families can work hard to get ahead, 
it seems that we would want to make sure they are getting paid enough 
to do so; yet this issue is completely absent from the Republican 
budget, and still, women will be notoriously underpaid for the work 
that they do.
  Mr. Speaker, women are also notoriously underrepresented in science, 
technology, engineering, and mathematics fields. These are the jobs of 
tomorrow. These are the jobs that will grow our economy, that will make 
us globally competitive.
  Unfortunately, we cannot address these issues of underrepresentation 
of women in those areas--science, technology, engineering, and 
mathematics--because the Republican budget that we passed today does 
not think it is important.
  The people's budget, on the other hand, would lift the minimum wage, 
would increase the opportunities for women in educational fields where 
they have been underrepresented and would result in a raise for more 
than 27.8 million workers, including the 15.3 million women.
  There are broader societal impacts to raising the minimum wage as 
well. For starters, since women are the majority of minimum wage 
workers, lifting that Federal minimum wage would close the pay gap by 
nearly 5 percent. I know it has been said time and again, Mr. Speaker, 
but raising the minimum wage will also boost our economy.
  For these workers, additional wages aren't dropping into savings 
accounts; they are paying for things they need right now. Research 
indicates that for every $1 added to minimum wage, low wage worker 
households spent an additional $2,800 the following year. That is a 
win-win situation.
  Unfortunately, we didn't adopt the budget that included the minimum 
wage increase. We adopted the budget that included new tax cuts for the 
top 1 percent at the expense of the middle class.
  Mr. Speaker, the point that we have tried to make here is that we 
have passed the wrong budget. The Republican budget is wrong for women. 
It is wrong for the middle class. It is wrong for the Nation's economy.
  The foundations of the American Dream are crumbling beneath our feet 
just right as we speak, with stagnant wages, struggling schools, and a 
wealth gap that is only getting bigger.
  We can't move forward with policies that are only going to make 
matters worse. We need to open our eyes and fight together for policies 
that will build an economy that works for everyone.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

                          ____________________