[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 118 (Monday, July 15, 2019)]
[House]
[Page H5815]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1930
                      DON'T INCREASE MINIMUM WAGE

  (Mr. LaMALFA asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. LaMALFA. Mr. Speaker, the latest proposal offered by my Democrat 
colleagues to raise the minimum wage from $7.25 an hour to $15 an hour 
nationally is going to be devastating to small businesses and 
especially to jobs. A 107 percent increase is not going to create more 
jobs. It might sound nice on the surface, but it will be very harmful.
  There is this myth that a large segment of Americans earn at or below 
the minimum wage, but, in reality, it is only 2.3 percent; and half of 
them are below the age of 25 who need these entry-level jobs to learn a 
skill, to learn to show up every day, to be on time, and to grow from 
there. Increasing it to $15 an hour nationally would cause small 
companies to pass on higher prices to consumers, likely driving 
consumers away, and for a small business' little profit margin already, 
potentially forcing them to close their doors.
  I visited a restaurant in my district that had two locations, and 
they have already closed one. They are afraid, as California is already 
on the track at $12 and higher, how much longer they can keep their 
businesses open because of the huge cost of labor as a percentage of 
their business.
  So let's get on the right track and do the things that support job 
growth and the success we have had the last couple of years after the 
Tax Cuts and Jobs Act and not go down this path.

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