[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 120 (Wednesday, July 17, 2019)]
[House]
[Page H5981]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               OPPOSING RAISING THE FEDERAL MINIMUM WAGE

  (Mr. SPANO asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. SPANO. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong opposition to H.R. 
582, which would more than double the Federal minimum wage.
  Numerous studies show that doubling the minimum wage to $15 an hour 
would be catastrophic for small businesses. The Congressional Budget 
Office estimates that this bill would result in the loss of up to 3.7 
million jobs, which is approximately the same number of people who live 
in the State of Oklahoma.
  When I started my own business, I went without a salary for a full 
year to invest in the business, to pay for overhead, and to keep my 
employees paid. I could not have borne these expenses under a $15 
minimum wage.
  I think of my scheduler, Naomi Hilton. As a teenager, I hired her in 
my small business to be the receptionist in my office. She worked hard, 
and within a year she was promoted to legal assistant, and then to 
paralegal, and eventually she earned more than $15 an hour.
  If not for a much lower minimum wage, I would never have been able to 
start my business, hire Naomi, and pay her more than the minimum wage 
proposed in this bill.
  I support higher wages for all, and the economy has given us these 
jobs without costing millions of jobs and thousands of small 
businesses.

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