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Video Transcript
Thank you Yeah there should be here soon I 35 I believe that we will win Hi No that was the right We have more Sorry them Good afternoon everyone Uh for the people that was our theme in the election and here we are gathered in the rayburn room for the people Democrats from both sides of the Capitol coming together uh to recognize and correct of the situation in the financial security concerns of america's working families we have a great array of presenters today and many of our colleagues have joined us in unity uh to raise the minimum wage I just want to acknowledge a two of our vips are very important people tiffany lowe and Howard Who will be presenting today definitely Let us salute Bobby Scott the chairman of the of the of the labor education and labor Committee reps Mark polk and stephanie murphy and donald nor cross for their leadership on the bill on the House side we're honored to be joined by Sarah senator Bernie sanders senator patty murray from the Senate side welcome to the welcome back And we will be hearing uh from other uh guest here today including the Democratic leader of the Senate chuck schumer where place to also to be uh it will be hearing from our Democratic leader standing hoyer thank you stephanie And of course of the proceedings you know that was a Congress woman sylvia garcia is here from Texas also from Texas sheila Jackson Lee I I just saw with the eyes of back of my head they say that about moms uh we have annette barely gone from California susan brennan he from oregon dwight evans from Pennsylvania and others will be joining us in my have not already acknowledged let me just tell you this when we won the House and two thousand six in two thousand seven we came together in the first 100 hours one of the six six priorities for us was to raise the minimum wage and had been raised like an 11 years and we did it right there in the first 100 hours of the new Congress as soon as we were it was signed by President Bush when we went out to celebrate our victory out on the lawn of the Capitol and the rest senator Kennedy was with us and have been a champion on this issue and when he finished his remarks when we all finish our remarks he said you know what we have to do now it was that he said Raise the minimum wage okay let me just did no again it's so so very very important to as we all know the the uh Middle class is the backbone of our Middle class in our country and the Middle class and those who aspire to it uh those we are here to work for and that Middle class is essential to the strength of our democracy so I thank all who are here for their patriotic work that they're doing to strengthen our democracy as they strengthen the financial stability of america's working families and with that I'm pleased To the the general is the chair of the education and labor Committee Bobby Scott Thank you Speaker pelosi and thank you for your leadership and I'm pleased to be joined by many House and Senate colleagues and workers from around the country to introduce the raise the wage act of 20 19 disabilities three critical goals first and gradually increases the minimum wage and six steps to 15 dollars an hour by 20 24 second and ensures that every workers paid the full minimum wage the phasing out sub minimum wages and creating one fair wage for all workers and third And third it and ensures that the minimum wage keeps pace with inflation by a tying the future increases to median wages were here today because we believe that no American working fulltime should be living in poverty after nearly 10 years with no increase in the minimum wage millions of working families are being left behind we're also here today because gradually increasing the minimum wage is not only good for workers it's also good for business and good for the economy when we put money in the pockets of American workers they spend that money in their communities so this bill will stimulate the economy Main Street and we're here today because we know that America American workers need a raise the raise the wage act will increase the pay and standard of living for nearly 40 million Americans across this country this is one important step towards making the economy work for all Americans and I'm proud to stand here with my colleagues to introduce a bill that reflects our commitment to supporting hardworking Americans it already has what he says is a hundred and 78 I know it's up to a hundred and eighty five and I think it's more than that by now House Co sponsors and so A lot of support and we're on the way to raising the wage and so it's now my pleasure to introduce my good friend and lead sponsor in the Senate of the raise the wage act senator Bernie sanders Oh let me thank Speaker pelosi and majority leader hoyer minority leader schumer chairman Bobby Scott ranking member of Pat murray and uh everybody else uh for being here today and let me spray a special thanks to all of you guys you are the folks not only here but all over this country the fight for 15 the grassroots activists who have stood up and fought back now for years you are the people who made this day possible and because of your efforts we're gonna win this fight We are living today in an American economy which is doing very well for the people on top not so well for working families in the midst of massive income and wealth inequality with 46 percent of all new income going to the top one percent millions of American workers continue to struggle economically as they work two or three jobs to put food on the table and take care of their families and that we are It is not a radical idea and Speaker pelosi made this point it is not a radical idea to say that we should have an economy and a government that works for all of us not just the people on top And let me be very clear and I don't think there's any disagreement at least the neutral and that is that the current seven dollar and 25 cents an hour federal minimum wage is a starvation wage last time Congress passed legislation to raise the minimum wage was 12 years ago needless to say the economy in the world has changed than an minimum wage legislation must change as well and that is why we are all here together to say in the Country we're gonna have a minimum wage which is a living wage 15 bucks an hour This legislation will provide a pay raise to more than 40 million Americans it will put an extra 30 500 dollars a year into the pockets of the people who need it the most that as well wage workers You know we hear we hear a lot of rhetoric coming from our Republican colleagues and they say that the minimum wage the only people who benefit from that are teenagers will do some work well that is absolutely natural the majority of low wage workers are women 20 million of home would get a raise by increasing the minimum wage to 15 bucks an hour more than a half of the beneficiaries will be African American and latino in Incredibly over eighty five percent if you can believe this child can't workers people doing some of the most important work in this country make less than 15 dollars an I want now instead of costing us jobs as many of my conservative colleagues claim increasing the minimum wage is Bobby just said Bobby Scott said we'll put money into the pockets of workers who will then go out and spend that money and if that create more jobs when we raise the minimum wage to a living wage poverty will go down and it's time we addressed the issue of poverty in this country So the bottom line here is our Republican colleagues in the President throughout the main economic initiative was to give over a trillion dollars in tax breaks to the top one percent and large multinational corporations we disagree we think we should pay attention to working people and raise the minimum wage to a living wage thank you very much It is my honor it is a true on a uh to introduce tiffany long who is a mother of four and a cashier at of see in memphis tennessee definitely Hi my name is sidney lowe and I'm a mother and a fast food worker in memphis tennessee I am honored to be here with you all to introduce to you this 15 dollar minimum wage bill my first job was in fast food I made six 50 an hour eighteen years later I am here at camp see you and I make seven 65 an hour that's less than a dollar more in a decade I raised four children on his poverty wages we stay with my parents to save money but I have trouble Tonight I worry about my bills I worry I will run out of food I worry I won't be able to get my children back and forth school because I don't have enough money I have no money for child care or after school school programs many times I sat in the lobby of the store until I get off because I have no choice Maybe you got grassley ok and I am not alone also finance hodges a home healthcare worker from Virginia who has trouble for fighting for her own family while taking care of other people loved ones or dennis mcdonald's and it jumped for the facility member who has no benefits no health care and he also works and fastfood to support his family I am here joined by underpay workers from across the country to say that everyone who works no matter where they're from everyone deserves to be paid enough to lead a decent life and provide for their families It was unbelievable six years ago 200 fastfood workers and New York will walk off the job for 15 in a Union and went back into their shops now the demand for 15 has grown into an undeniable movement On the pay workers now the demand for 15 has grown into an undeniable movement for underpaid workers not only have I gone on strike and protested I've canvassed a hundred 50 dollars a week during the mid time elections by sticking together and acting like a Union workers the fiber 15 completely change what's possible and may 15 dollars an hour the new baseline for decent pay in America No matter where we live no matter our race religion or background we all deserve more now we are here on Capitol Hill talking about a federal minimum wage of just 15 dollars an hour because thousand of workers came together went on strike and demanded it now more than 22 million Americans have one raises since the fight for 15 has begun one fifth of the country is now covered by a 15 dollar minimum wage I won't Until we get what we need for our families we cannot afford to stop until we all have 15 in a Union and that's exactly what we will do together with the members of Congress Bernie senator Bernie sanders Eddie murray representative Bobby Scott Marco can and stephanie murphy and donald nor cross we will win yes we will win I just wanna say thanks to all of the Co sponsors and the leaders of this bill and a special thanks to Speaker Nancy plus key for her support Now I will yield to the Speaker representative shimmer Look at Great job I've been called a lot worse Okay I wanna thank my colleagues senator sanders and murray for their hard work on this bill in the Senate as well as representative Scott spoken and murphy on for their work in the House and of course my colleague Speaker pelosi and leader hoyer now the hard truth of the matter is that minimum wage is no longer living wage it's a poverty wage in so many places in towns across the country and no American who works hard should live in poverty that's always been part of America and we're gonna make it that way once again in 20 14 I was introduced by one of my favorite unions 32 bj got some of you guys here good um 30 to be J to a young woman named erica elliott I got to know her she was my guest at the state of the Union she was in her late 20 s she's been working as A cleaner of bathrooms at an airport at jfk airport she lived in East New York she got up at four a at um she got on a bus at 4 PM it took her two hours they didn't have good Mass transit to get to the airport at six she started working at six she worked eight hours finished before they only paid her for seven hours because they made a take an hour for lunch and a round midnight and didn't pay her and she got back on Boss got home at about 6 AM got her kids she had two daughters ready for school got on buses to take them to school and slept maybe two hours she said to me Mr schumer I've never been able to buy a Christmas present for my children Mr schumer we pass by a mcdonald's and my kids is what is in the air what's what's that like because she was making so little money Because of the good work in New York she's paid more than 15 dollars an hour and she's not gonna live a life of luxury but she's not gonna live a life in poverty and she can provide some dignity for her hard work cleaning bathrooms for her children and for herself and so that's what we must do for every sherry ck a elliott in America the last two years have exposed the lie that was at the President trump's campaign he pitched himself as a champion for working America but as soon as he got into office he became a President for corporate America against working Americans how do you begin his presidency he install billionaires and special interest ceos in his Cabinet than he work to Strip health care away from average Americans and to top it all off he jam through a massive trillion dollar tax cuts for corporations He is to the wealthy well now we're standing here today and President trump continuing his heartless and cruel policies he's using hundreds of thousands of federal workers as bargaining chips in the longest shutdown in American history and simply put President trump has completely abandoned American workers well if President trump isn't gonna stick up for American workers we Democrats will Next I would like to call on leader who air Thank you very much senator schumer I wanna congratulate uh the the uh leader in the Senate uh chuck schumer he and I came to this Congress together uh in the 97 Congress and uh I wanna thank you the shy and retiring under paid person tiffany lowe wow go get them girl I want to thank Bobby Scott for his leadership Speaker pelosi when she said the last time we were in charge one of the first things we did was raise the minimum wage it was not enough then it is clearly not enough now I wanna thank senator murray for her leadership represented spoke on and representative murphy a good friend and uh all of those who have joined with us senator sanders thank you for your leadership for the least of these uh as uh uh my faith tells me we ought to pay attention not to the wealthiest of the The least of this uh that's will be our judgment What if I told you that 50 years from now your purchasing power would be reduced by 40 percent That's what we've done in 19 68 the purchasing power was 40 percent higher and that was that one 60 was the minimum wage higher than it is today 50 years later is there any doubt that people are stressed and angry and hurting and families are not as healthy and enjoying wellbeing as much as they ought to in the richest country on Earth And yet as senator sanders and so many others have pointed out what do we do in the last Congress We took care of billionaires and multi millionaires and multi corporations before we reached out to those who are making the least this bill will seek to uh make some progress it's not where we need to be Center did you know that but it makes progress and progress is important uh I offered a height in the minimum wage that Nancy and I were serving on the labor health Committee uh it Committee and 20 oh six and my Republican colleagues who are in charge refused to bring the bill to the floor I will tell you that not only is Mr Scott gonna bring this bill before but I'm gonna put it on the floor You've already heard what this uh will do but it will also make our economy fairer and more successful and discrimination against people with disabilities eliminating 14 C contracts that allow employers to pay for the sub minimum wage that's important to me because I was the sponsor along with of a lot of others and Speaker pelosi of the Americans with disabilities act and how do you work on that we worked on that with this uh senator raising the minimum wage It will help low income families but it will help all of us it will help all families this is a family issue for all of us and it will help uh uh elderly as well because their children will be helped this increases in just good policy for the lowest income earners it will help lift all boats as I said by pushing wages higher across the economy for average working people more of what will help local businesses in every corner of America banned by boosting as again senator sanders said consumer spending You give a multimillionaire attacks good he doesn't spend it he doesn't have to spend it uh because he has enough spending money but you give somebody who is making a minimum wage or just getting by uh they spend that money and it makes the economy where 70 percent is consumer spending in America I want to thank chairman Scott and education labor Committee Democrats for their hard work on this bill I look forward to bring in as I said to the floor now I wanna You somebody who's not make I'm gonna get back to you our guest let's hear from Democratic leader with the hard And unfortunately I've been called way but I wanted to join you in acknowledging again as I did earlier tiffany and uh again our special guest tim you will introduce and next at Howard hanna uh but I also want to acknowledge the President of the seiu mary kay Henry And they acknowledge yes yeah you in the fight for 15 kyle hammer that guide what the I just want to say this one thing and study and all of our speakers have referenced him you know by today many of the ceos of the companies that were fighting to get the minimum wage increase North They have earned as much in the first couple of weeks in January as they will pay these employees for the whole year that is not Justice I didn't fear that isn't right and we don't begrudge anyone their success and their income but we do the grudge exploitation of the workers to that extent so this is about not only the money the Dollars it's about the values that our country is about so thank you thank you mary kay thank you kyle thank you all thank you for all of you and with that I yield back to the distinguished House Democratic leader which means he's in charge of putting the bills on the floor Mr hart Nice madam Speaker and thank you for your leadership and how are you today but also in oh seven when we raise it to seven 25 now as I started to say the person I'm going to introduce now is not making the minimum wage he's making significant significantly above the minimum wage but the gentleman wanted to introduce to you as a business his number of businesses And he believes not only in the minimum wage but he pays his people today not waiting for 20 24 today 15 dollars an hour They're all looking how are they gonna give you an application he's from Kansas city he owns a hotel and restaurant in Kansas city and he plans to open two more restaurants in 20 19 Howard currently pays as I just told you his workers 15 dollars an hour so this is a person who's gonna tell you it's not bad for business it's good for business to pay your people so that they are not Every day about how they're gonna pay their bills support their family but we're gonna be focusing on what they do and you're gonna be more productive more profitable and more successful ladies and gentlemen uh a terrific American Howard hanna uh from Kansas city Missouri Howard Good afternoon I'm Howard hanna I'm the owner of the rigor and Silva two restaurants in Kansas city Missouri we employ around 50 people all who make significantly more than the current current minimum wage I strongly support the wage raise the wage act including ensuring that all workers are paid at least the form federal minimum wage I'm speaking from my experience as a business owner representing businesses for a fair minimum wage in calling on Congress to act two things are clear first that the minimum wage has not kept up with the cost of living you've heard that from every Speaker today second Paying a higher wage has real bottom line benefits for businesses one of the industries that will be most impacted by the raise the wage act is the restaurant and hospitality industry and that impact will be positive in the past it was possible for a first generation American for example to get a job as a dishwasher and then years later become the chef and owner of their own restaurant and to you know create their own restaurant culture and to employ other people in their community that's so much harder today far too many people Long hours and yet still live in poverty the cost of living is continue to rise while wages have stagnated we need wages that a fulltime hardworking person can truly live a life on paying a living wage and treating our employees while has been a recipe for success for our businesses we're looking forward to opening two new restaurants next year while existing businesses continue to grow to us quality and a great customer experience our everything we need dedicated employees who are Whose goals align with ours to provide real hospitality to our guests and make our restaurants the best they can be paying a living wage has helped us recruit and retain people and deliver that great customer service the low wage high turnover business model makes no sense training new staff is expensive one someone is learning the job we'd like them to stay with us for as long as possible we want them to build up institutional knowledge and to get to know the ins and outs of our businesses and our client I'll People are paid fairly that they feel respected they care more about the business and are better team players they're more careful about food waste and they're more efficient with labour they look out for our best interest because they know we're looking out for there's Raising the minimum wage raises everyone up it puts money in the hands of those who need it the most and also those who are most likely to spend it now and that will boost the economy it hurts us all when some businesses paid so little that their employees can't make a living people working full time shouldn't have to depend on public assistance to cover basics like rent and food raising the minimum wage levels levels the playing field for businesses that are paying a fair share and are invested in their staff and in their communities I believe that Minimum wage is a win win for workers and for business it's good for our communities and it's good for our country every day for breakfast lunch dinner and late at night restaurant workers show up they and others involved in food production we feed and nourish you we create environments for you to celebrate in when you're up and also to lift you up when you're down this is your chance to show up and take care of us it's good for our workers and for our businesses I hope that you'll do the right thing and support the raise the wage act thank you No Now I have the pleasure to introduce senator patty murray ranking member of the help Committee and a longtime champion of working people Howard thank you so much for your great words and for the work you're doing and for showing us all a great example of how this does work thank you I don't want to add my thanks to all the members of Congress chairman Scott who have been working with Speaker pelosi leader schumer senator sanders our other members um all of them who are here today and fighting so hard for this but most of all I wanna thank the folks behind me who are here speaking for so many people who can't be here thank you We are here today for workers like tiffany uh tiffany thank you for sharing your amazing story I've I've heard the same thing from so many workers in my home state of Washington who are up at night worrying about their bills or their children because they can't afford child care tiffany you are not just speaking for yourself you're speaking for millions of Americans today and there are millions of women and men across the country who do work a fulltime job or work multiple jobs and are still unable to pay their bills and make ends meet when President His administration continued to roll back protections for workers and tilt the playing field even further in favor of corporations and billionaires Democrats are here fighting for an economy where every person has a good paying job that allows them to take care of their families and provide their children with more opportunities than they were given there are a lot of steps we can take to ensure that more workers especially the millions of women by the way who are supporting their families have the economic Security to build better lives and I'm proud that one of the first steps we're taking in this new Congress is to introduce the raise the wage act to gradually raise the minimum wage to 15 dollars an hour under this bill 20 million women across this country will get a raise including 40 percent of black working women and 35 percent of latino working women and by the way by eliminating the tipped wage which we do in this the raise the wage act will help provide economic security to some of the lowest wage workers two thirds Are women raising the minimum wage will provide greater economic opportunity for hundreds of thousands of workers with disabilities some of who are paid pennies an hour helping them to transition out of poverty and begin earning a fair wage I have seen this work in Washington state and across the country our economy works best when workers and families are able to succeed so we have to restore the value of the minimum wage and build an economy that provides that economic security to every worker in this country that's what we're here to Fighting for so thank you all for being here and I'm proud to introduce congressman Mark polk camp we during Thank senator murray for your tireless work and my Democratic colleagues are here as well as the workers and small business owners are hear in supporting uh the increase the minimum wage I come to Congress as a nearly three decade long member of the international Union of painters and allied trades as well as three decades as a small business owner and I can tell you that no family in this country can get by and make their ends meet in seven and a quarter an hour in my home district in the state of wisconsin you would have to work 91 hours a week just to afford a two bedroom rental apartment now there's a couple Uh that are out there some have argued that we need a regional uh regional minimum wage and that's a bad idea according to the economic policy Institute that by 20 24 when the wage kicks in the cost of living in every single region in this country will require workers to make at least 15 dollars an hour to achieve a basic standard of living and a regional minimum wage would lock in lower wages in historically low wage areas and in States with weak labor standards Federal minimum wage maybe the only way to have an effective a labor market uh institution that can elevate wages uh secondly the myth of what the minimum wage worker is I go to a lot of high schools in my district I ask them what percent of people who get the minimum wage do you think are under 20 years old I get 70 percent as an answer I get 50 percent of an answer the answer is less than 10 percent of workers uh the average worker um is 36 years old uh it is a nine point eight percent that are uh under 20 years old and that means that 30 Workforce would get a raise out of this bill 40 million people it's also said that uh this is a part time and in Denver a majority of these wage earners are working fulltime and nearly quarter have children that's the reality of the minimum wage worker in this country it is uh far past time that we have not raised this minimum wage it is impossible to live on 15000 dollars a year and I would challenge my colleagues I who may oppose this uh to go ahead and try living on 15000 dollars a year we currently make 11 and a half times that I don't think we do a lot Times the work is tiffany and everyone else is here so I'm very proud to be here on behalf of raising the minimum wage and I would like to introduce a tireless advocate for her constituents a friend and colleague of mine representative stephanie murphy from Florida Thank you very much congressman and thank you so much to the chairman Scott for pulling together this coalition of people who believe working families deserve a race I'm proud to stand here alongside my colleagues in support of the raise the wage act together we represent a broad range of views that exist within the Democratic caucus but we're United in support of the idea that in the greatest country on Earth no person who has the dignity of a fulltime job should face the indignity of not being able to provide for themselves and their loved ones and I believe Increasing the federal minimum wage is the right thing to do for American workers for American businesses and for the American economy my orlando district is a powerful case and point it has both a relatively high cost of living especially when it comes to housing and the lowest median income of all the 50 largest metropolitan areas in the country and although it is slightly above the federal minimum wage the Florida minimum wage is not a living wage workers in my district who are in this wage can't fully support themselves or their families and this is a Fact of life for too many people in my state and around the country and at the same time I believe that you cannot reasonably claim to be pro worker unless you're also pro business for the simple reason that the vast majority of American workers are hired and retained by businesses and as someone who used to Council start ups when I worked in the private sector and as the spouse of a proud small business owner I could not support this bill if I thought it would damage businesses and Extension be harmful to their workers to the contrary I believe this legislation would provide a boost to business and to the broader economy if lower income workers are paid a living wage they'll have more money in their pockets and nearly every economist will tell you that when to working families earn more money they spend in their local community boosting sales creating jobs and strengthening the economy for everyone higher wages also mean there will be fewer Americans who rely on government anti poverty programs to make ends meet and at a time when our Deficit and debt have reached troubling levels there's no better way to bring our budget into balance than to give hardworking Americans a raise I believe passage of this bill would be good for my country and would help my constituents so I'm proud to support it thank you and I look um I'm honored to introduce congressman nor cross thank you Good afternoon it's great to be here Bobby thank you so much for keeping this in the focus we see a contrast what happened when Congress changed the House of representatives billionaires taking care of we're gonna remember where we came from and that's the workers who are behind us in American you work hard you play by the rules you're supposed to be able to make it well that might be happening for some but not for the ones that we're talking about here today 11 years these children over here weren't even born were not even born when we last voted on that that's how bad things are out there I remember where I came from I was a single dad or the minimum wage was two dollars and 90 cents when I was earning Inflation and productivity had followed that would now be eighteen dollars an hour that's how far behind we are in this this is about dignity about being able to take care of yourself and your family this is not about a handout this is about fairness and I can't thank those who have worked on is keeping it in the forefront of people's minds and certainly each and every day but the one surprising I just want to echo what Mark said most people It's not a surprise that you can't live on minimum wage what is it surprise you don't even come close literally thousands of dollars that's not the way we share that promise of America if you work hard you play by the rules you're supposed to be able to do it so I remember where I came from certainly they do apparently wow I guess donald remembers where he came from dad send me a check and you work hard you play by the rules you should get paid and somebody who understands that and quite frankly put the committee's brightening back in education labor our chairman Bobby Scott thank you Thank you done I wanna thank my congressional colleagues for all they said but particularly I wanna recognize the workers who are here today who have expressed their stories and our restaurant owner for expressing his story uh the next time we get together here I hope it's because we're celebrating the passage of the bill and I would
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