[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 28 (Wednesday, February 13, 2019)]
[House]
[Page H1532]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        RAISING THE MINIMUM WAGE

  (Mr. ALLEN asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. ALLEN. Madam Speaker, I rise in opposition to legislation that my 
Democratic colleagues are pushing to raise the Federal minimum wage to 
$15 an hour--more than double its current level.
  As a member of the House Education and Labor Committee, I 
participated in a hearing last week to speak against this radical 
proposal that will hurt low-skilled workers and small businesses the 
most. I am a proud small business owner, and I know for a fact that 
businesses pay wages according to their employees' skill set. In a free 
enterprise environment, a growing economy grows jobs which grows 
opportunities which grows wages.
  I believe you reward a good day's work, but my Democratic colleagues 
don't want to believe that we can produce economic opportunity in 
concert with growing wages without the government interfering.
  Signing the front of the paycheck and providing folks with a good job 
has been one of the greatest privileges of my life. That is why I 
oppose the Raise the Wage Act. This one-size-fits-all, top-down 
government regulation will destroy millions of hard-earned jobs and 
restrain our growing economy.
  Democrats should focus on economic growth and getting the American 
people back to work, not an unpopular, progressive agenda.

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