Wednesday, January 10, 2007

First 100 Hours Continues its Successful Run: Minimum Wage Increase Passes Overwhelmingly

REP BECERRA: 'The time for excuses expired 10 years ago. It is time to increase the minimum wage for hard working Americans.'

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The House of Representatives passed H.R. 2, The Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2007 today by an overwhelming vote of 315 to 116. Representative Xavier Becerra (CA-31), the Assistant to the Speaker and the only member of Congress from Southern California on the House Ways and Means Committee, voted for the bill.

Once approved by the Senate and signed in to law by the president, H.R. 2 will raise the federal minimum wage – currently at $5.15 an hour – to $7.25 an hour within two years and 60 days. Final passage into law will signify a wage increase for approximately 13 million workers, 79 percent of whom are adults. Nearly seven million children will see their parents get a pay increase.

Speaking in support of the bill, Congressman Becerra made the following remarks on the floor of the House of Representatives:

"It is a new day, a new Congress and a new direction for America. The previous Congress could have increased the minimum wage, but it didn't. The Congress before that could, but it did not. Every day over six million Americans choose work at $5.15 an hour over welfare. For 10 years the old Congress chose to do nothing to reward the labor and dedication of those Americans who work hard for the lowest pay. $5.15 an hour - that's less than $900 each month. How much do you pay every month just on your mortgage, your rent, your car payment? Today compared to 1997, we pay 25 percent more for a loaf of bread, 77 percent more for college, 97 percent more for health insurance, and 130 percent more for a gallon of gas, but for those 10 years, the minimum wage has not changed.

"Every American worker who works hard full time all year should escape the grasp of poverty. The time for excuses expired 10 years ago. It is time to increase the minimum wage for hard working Americans. This new Congress will deliver for America's workers."