[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 10]
[House]
[Pages 13896-13897]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1615
                            THE MINIMUM WAGE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Maine (Mr. Allen) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. ALLEN. Mr. Speaker, hard work and perseverance are supposed to be 
the key to success in America; yet many people who work full time are 
barely scraping by, earning just $10,712 per year on the Federal 
minimum wage, which is now $5.15 an hour and has been at that level for 
nearly 10 years.
  That is an income, $10,700, that is $6,000 below the Federal poverty 
line for a family of three. That number cheats millions of American 
families and children out of the chance for basic financial stability 
every year. It directly contradicts what we often describe as the 
promise of America, that if you work hard and play by the rules, you 
have a reasonable chance for a life of some prosperity.
  Families are struggling because the buying power of the minimum wage 
is now at its lowest level in the last 50 years, the last 50 years. But 
if you look at the changes that families are undergoing just in the 
last 10 years, here is what you find.
  Americans pay 136 percent more to heat their homes and drive their 
cars than they did 10 years ago when the last minimum wage increase was 
passed. Health insurance costs have gone up 97 percent during that same 
period. The cost of a 4-year public university has gone up 77 percent 
as well. Families who once lived comfortably on their incomes have been 
steadily falling out of the middle class and into poverty.
  We need to raise the minimum wage from $5.15 an hour to $7.25 an 
hour, a level that will really mean something to the parents who are 
struggling to provide for their children. An increase would boost the 
wages of 6.6 million workers directly. Another 8.2 million workers 
earning up to $1 above the minimum wage would also get a boost due to 
the so-called ``spillover'' effects, and that influence would affect 
the lives of 54,000 people in my home State of Maine.
  Despite what some opponents of a wage hike may claim, wages have not 
risen significantly on their own. They have been eaten away by 
inflation. Even though the American workforce has increased its 
productivity by 14 percent over the last 5 years, real wages have gone 
up by only 2 percent for nonmanagerial workers.
  Meanwhile, the average CEO in America makes more than 1,000 times the 
minimum wage. Americans CEOs earn in one day what most workers earn in 
a year.
  America prides itself on providing opportunity for all. Yet it is 
clear that the wealth being generated in our economy is only lifting a 
few. We need an economic plan that allows our citizens, especially our 
families and our children, to support themselves, educate themselves 
and continue to achieve and move forward in their lives.
  Now, it frankly is an embarrassment that Congress has not addressed 
the minimum wage issue in almost 10 years, especially in light of the 
issues that we have found time to address here. Last week, this body 
gave an estate tax break worth $280 billion to a few thousand wealthy 
individuals. For the past year, the Republican leadership has been 
intent on giving more tax breaks for the wealthiest 1 percent and 
paying for it with cuts in education, Medicare, and other programs on 
which Americans depend to maintain their quality of life.
  What does it mean to the average American that Congress has raised 
its own salary over and over again since 1997, but not the minimum 
wage? Income inequality in this country is a

[[Page 13897]]

scandal, and this Congress is contributing to making it greater. This 
is not only bad for the middle class and lower-income Americans in this 
country, it is bad for our democracy.
  Twenty States, including my home State of Maine, and the District of 
Columbia have already passed increases in the minimum wage. They 
understand that this is fundamentally an issue of fairness and good 
economic sense. We need to see this kind of economic leadership at the 
Federal level as well. We need economic policies that do not leave the 
majority of our citizens behind.
  The Republican leadership does not want a minimum wage increase to 
come to a vote here, but eight in 10 Americans do. They support it. 
Frankly, I wish this Congress would do as much for the average American 
as it does for corporations and the wealthiest 1 percent.
  The minimum wage must allow workers to earn enough to support 
themselves and their families. $5.15 is not enough to live on. I hope 
we can finally start to work together on this issue and enact a long, 
long overdue increase in the minimum wage.

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