My name is Andrew Horne, and I'm running for Congress in Kentucky's 3rd Congressional District in Louisville. A key issue in our city and across the nation is the federal minimum wage; for example, 44 percent of workers in our area are in blue collar or service industries, and the minimum wage impacts them greatly. In the state of Kentucky, more than 150,000 workers would benefit from a minimum wage increase, giving ripple effects to our economy.
But in the past nine years, workers making the minimum wage haven't gotten a single raise. Not one. In fact, the value of the last wage increase to $5.15 in 1996 has been completely eroded by inflation. Today, the
buying power of the minimum wage (Source:
Economic Policy Institute) is approaching an all-time low. At the same time, gas prices have soared to an all-time high, the cost of healthcare has greatly outpaced inflation, and student loans -- thanks to the Republican-led Congress -- are about to become less accessible and more expensive. Every day the minimum wage stays the same, working families fall further and further behind.
It's long past time for Congress to help the millions of workers earning the minimum wage or close to it. Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.) has introduced the Fair Minimum Wage Act,
H.R. 2429. The bill would increase the federal minimum wage from $5.15 to $7.25 in three steps: to $5.85 sixty days after enactment, to $6.55 one year later and to $7.25 a year after that.
But because Republican leaders are opposed to it, the bill has virtually no chance of getting a hearing or vote on the House floor.And so Rep. John Barrow (D-GA) has introduced
H. Res. 614, a House Simple Resolution to provide for the consideration of H.R. 2429. That's right: A bill to force the consideration of another bill. Welcome to Washington under the Republican leadership. You can help today by
urging your representative to sign H. Res. 614, the petition to discharge the minimum wage bill from consideration in committee and present it to the full House of Representatives for a vote.
What's at stake?
No one who works full-time should have to raise their children in poverty.
Raising the minimum wage to $7.25 an hour would mean an additional $4,370 a year for full-time workers earning minimum wage, a 44% percent increase in their annual earnings. The increase would have an immediate, direct impact on more than eight million workers and indirectly help millions more as the rising tide lifts wages.
The last time we increased the minimum wage, 11 million new jobs were added to the economy as it experienced its strongest growth in decades. More than 500 economists agree that an increase in the minimum wage would improve the well-being of American families without adverse economic effects. Raising the minimum wage is more than a moral and just thing to do, it's a smart thing to do.
During the time that Congress has refused to raise the minimum wage, it has voted eight pay raises for itself totaling $31,600. Just this year, Congress gave itself a $3,100 raise.
Here in my district, our incumbent representative, Anne Northup (R-KY) has failed to support a minimum wage increase and recently said in an interview she didn't remember whether she'd voted for a minimum wage increase (she hasn't).
84WHAS-AM radio host Joe Eliiott: Let's talk to [caller] Elaine. You're on 84WHAS with Congresswoman Anne Northup.
Elaine: Thank you for taking my call. Congressman Northup, you've been in Congress for a number of years, and in that time, Congress has voted itself raises. My question to you is this: The minimum wage has not been raised in 9 years. Why is it that Congress feels that its members need raises, but people trying to survive on the minimum wage don't?
Northup: Well first of all, I believe everybody needs raises. And you know, um, a minimum wage is supposed to be, uh, a wage at which someone gets on the bottom rung of the ladder, and begins to climb their climb to self sufficiency...
Host Joe Elliott: Would you support raising the minimum wage?
Northup: I ... can't even remember if I voted for it. But ...I'm not enthusiastic about it. First of all, there are very, very, very few jobs that pay the minimum wage, um...It's, it's hard to find a job that pays the minimum wage.
... /snip/ ...
You have people that work in, for example, fast food restaurants. And again, very few are working at $5.25, but the cook is maybe making $7 an hour or $8 an hour or $9 an hour. So if you put the minimum wage up for the person that walks in the door tomorrow at $7 an hour, how does that feel to the cook?
Women would be the largest group of beneficiaries of a minimum wage increase: More than 60 percent of workers who would profit from a hike in the minimum wage are women, including many displaced homemakers and single mothers who tend to earn lower wages. Right now, there are 37 million Americans -- including 13 million children --living in poverty in America, and raising the minimum wage is the easiest thing we can do to help these families help themselves.
Let's make a difference. Please take action today at my website, where I've made it easy for you to
tell Congress to sign H. Res. 614, the petition for consideration of the Fair Minimum Wage Act. It's time we held Republican members of Congress accountable!
Thank you,
Andrew Horne
Sources:
Jobs With Justice: "Help Raise the Minimum Wage"The Women Work! Legislative Bulletin, Economic Equity Insider: "Bills Introduced to Raise the Minimum Wage"Economic Policy Institute's Minimum Wage Issue GuideEconomic Policy Institute analysis of 2004 Current Population Survey data. March 2005.84WHAS AM radio interview on "The Joe Elliott Show" with U.S. Rep. Anne Northup, April 17, 2006