05.25.17

Scott Statement on the Introduction of $15 Minimum Wage Legislation

WASHINGTON – Committee on Education and the Workforce Ranking Member Bobby Scott (VA-03) issued the following statement after he joined Congressman Keith Ellison (MN-05), Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), ranking member, Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions to introduce H.R. 15, the Raise the Wage Act of 2017. The bill has more than 150 cosponsors in the House.  

“It’s been ten long years since we last raised the minimum wage. While 29 states have taken action to raise their wages above the federal minimum since then, minimum wage workers in 21 states are still paid $7.25 an hour. This leaves a full-time, year-round worker with a dependent child living below the federal poverty threshold. Today’s low-wage workers earn less per hour, adjusted for inflation, than their counterparts did 50 years ago, but productivity has nearly doubled over that same time period. That is unacceptable.

“Our legislation provides an important contrast between the Democrats’ agenda for working families and the agenda of President Trump and Congressional Republicans. President Trump and the Majority have used the 115th Congress and the beginning of the Trump Administration to roll back safety and health protections, attempt to take away health care from 23 million Americans, undermine civil rights enforcement, and advance legislation that would deny workers their hard-earned overtime pay. By passing the Raise the Wage Act, we can ensure that no one who works hard and plays by the rules has to live in poverty. Passing the Raise the Wage Act is the right thing to do. It’s the fair thing to do. And it’s long overdue.”

The Raise the Wage Act of 2017 would:

  • Raise the federal minimum wage from $7.25 to $15 over the next seven years;
  • Index  future increases in the federal minimum wage to median wage growth;
  • Gradually phase out the outdated and unfair tipped minimum wage;
  • Gradually phase out the unused youth wage; and
  • End subminimum wage certificates for individuals with disabilities.

To read the fact sheet on Raise the Wage Act of 2017, click here.

To read the section by section of the Raise the Wage Act of 2017, click here.

For the full text of H.R.15, the Raise the Wage Act of 2017, click here.

SUPPORTING ORGANIZATIONS:  9to5 California, 9to5 Colorado, 9to5 Georgia, 9to5 Wisconsin,9to5, National Association of Working Women, A Better Balance, AFL-CIO, Alliance for a Better Utah, Amalgamated Transit Union NJ State Joint Council, American Association of University Women (AAUW), American Federation of Government Employees, American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, AMERICAN FEDERATION OF TEACHERS, American Postal Workers Union, Anti-Poverty Network of New Jersey, Association of People Supporting Employment First,  Association of University Centers on Disabilities Autistic Self Advocacy Network, Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law, BCTGM International Union, Bend the Arc Jewish Action, CAP, Center for Community Change Action, Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP), Center on Policy Initiatives, Coalition of Labor Union Women, Collaboration to Promote Self-Determination, Communications Workers of America (CWA), Connecticut Legal Services, Inc., DC Abortion Fund, DC Fiscal Policy Institute, DISABILITY LAW CENTER, Disability Rights Center of the Virgin Islands, Disability Rights Maryland, Disability Rights New Mexico, Disability Rights of West Virginia , Economic Opportunity Institute, Economic Progress Institute (RI) ,Fair World Project, Family Values @ Work, Feminist Majority, Food & Water Watch, FORGE, Inc., Forward Together, Futures Without Violence, Greater New Jersey Pride at Work , Hawaii Appleseed Center for Law and Economic Justice, Homeless Persons Representation Project of Maryland, Indiana Institute for Working Families, Interfaith Worker Justice, International Brotherhood of Teamsters, International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace & Agricultural Implement Workers of America, UAW, Jesuit. Provincials of the United States, Jobs With Justice, Justice in Motion, Kentucky Equal Justice Center, Keystone Progress, Keystone Research Center, Labor Council for Latin American, Advancement, Labor Project for Working Families,  Lambda Legal, Legal Aid at Work, Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy, Los Angeles LGBT Center, MomsRising, MoveOn.org, NAACP, NAACP Newark, NJ Branch, National Action Network, National Asian Pacific American Women's Forum, National Association of Councils on Developmental Disabilities, National Association of Letter Carriers, National Black Justice Coalition, National Center for Lesbian Rights, National Center for Transgender Equality, National Council of Jewish Women, National Council of La Raza, National Council on Disability, National Council on Independent Living, National Disability Rights Network, National Domestic Workers Alliance, National Down Syndrome Congress, National Education Association National Employment Law Project, National Employment Lawyers Association, National Federation of the Blind, National Immigration Law Center, National LGBTQ Task Force Action Fund, National Partnership for Women & Families, National Urban League, National Women's Law Center, NETWORK Lobby for Catholic Social Justice, New Jersey Alliance for Immigrant Justice, New Jersey Policy Perspective, New Jersey Working Families Alliance, NJ State Industrial Union Council, North Carolina Justice Center, Oxfam America, PathWays PA, Patriotic Millionaires, People Demanding Action, Policy Matters Ohio, PolicyLink, Pride at Work, Professional Aviation Safety Specialists, Progress For All, ProgressNow, Project IRENE, RESULTS, Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law, Service Employees International Union (SEIU), SiX Action, South Florida Interfaith Worker Justice, Southern Poverty Law Center, TASH, Inc., Teamsters Local 469, Texas Organizing Project, The Agenda Project, The Council of Parent Attorneys and Advocates, Inc., The Fairness Project, The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Right, The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, The Patriotic Millionaires, The United Methodist Church - General Board of Church and  Society, The Voter Participation Center, Time for a Raise, UC Berkeley Labor Center, Unitarian Universalist Women's Federation, United Food and Commercial Workers International Union, United Mine Workers of America, URGE: Unite for Reproductive & Gender Equity, Utah Indivisible,Utility Workers Union of America, Washington Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs, Washington Metro Disabled Students Collective, Wind of the Spirit, Immigrant Resource Center,Women Employed, Women's Law Project, Women's Voices, Women Vote Action Fund, Working America, Working Families Party, Workplace Fairness, World Blind Union

To read a letter from nearly 150 worker, anti-poverty, and civil rights organizations supporting the Raise the Wage Act, click here.