House GOP Unanimously Votes Against Increasing Minimum Wage
WASHINGTON – Today, House Republicans voted unanimously against raising the nation’s minimum wage to $10.10 per hour by 2015. The vote came as part of a final amendment to a bill that would harm access to job training and education programs for low-income Americans. The minimum wage amendment failed on a 184 to 233 vote, with all 227 Republican members voting ‘no’.
“Even while corporate profits soar and the stock market reaches new highs, the working poor continue to fall further and further behind,” said Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.), the author of the amendment and the bill to raise the minimum wage. “If the Republicans want to take away a priority of service for low income Americans who want to learn new skills for a better job and a better life, the least we can do is make sure these workers get a decent wage.”
The Fair Minimum Wage Act (H.R. 1010) will increase the federal minimum wage over three steps, from $7.25 to $10.10 per hour. The rate will then be indexed to inflation each year thereafter. In addition, the legislation will increase the required cash wage for tipped workers in annual 85 cent increases, from today’s $2.13 per hour until the tip credit reaches 70 percent of the regular minimum wage.
The Republican bill (H.R. 803) that the minimum wage measure attempted to amend, would rewrite the Workforce Investment Act in a way that would have eliminated the priority of service for low-income adults to education and skills training programs, among many other provisions. This means that low-wage workers seeking to improve their skills and find a better job could be left out. Despite being a high priority for House Republican leadership in their rebranding effort, H.R. 803 only garnered 215 votes.
Democrats offered an alternative, authored by Reps. John Tierney (D-MA) and Ruben Hinojosa (D-TX), that would have made the workforce investment and training system more effective so that workers can acquire the skills that growing industries and businesses desire.
More information on the Republican effort to rewrite the Workforce Investment Act
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