The Daily WhipLine

Wednesday, January 10, 2007 : PRINT

Floor Schedule and Procedure:

• Raising the Minimum Wage (H.R. 2):  The House will consider a bill today to increase the minimum wage from $5.15 to $7.25 an hour over two years.  Debate will be managed by Education and Labor Committee Chair George Miller.  Under the rule (H. Res. 6) passed last week, the bill will proceed in the following order:

• 3 hours of debate.
• 10 minutes of debate on the Republican motion to recommit.
• Vote on Republican motion to recommit. Democrats are urged to vote NO.
• Vote on final passage of H.R. 2.  Democrats are urged to vote YES.

• Recorded Vote on H. Res. 15:  At some point today, the House will take a recorded vote on the following Suspension bill that was debated yesterday: 

• H. Res. 15 - Mourning the passing of President Gerald Rudolph Ford and celebrating his leadership and service to the people of the U.S. (Reps. Ehlers, Pelosi, Hoyer, Boehner, Dingell – Oversight and Government Reform)

               
Bill Summary and Key Issues:

Raising the Minimum Wage (H.R. 2): This bill increases the minimum wage from $5.15 to $7.25 an hour over two years. Increasing the minimum wage to $7.25 per hour would bring a pay raise for up to 13 million Americans.  The following are highlights of key provisions of the bill:

• 60 days after the legislation is enacted, the minimum wage would increase to $5.85.  One year later it would go up to $6.55 per hour.  And another year later the minimum wage would increase to $7.25 an hour.
  
• The measure also extends federal minimum wage coverage to workers in the Northern Marianas.

Key Points:

• Raising the minimum wage would provide an additional $4,400/year for a family of three, equaling 15 months of groceries, or over two years of health care - helping them to keep up with rising costs.
  
  
• Nearly 13 million people would likely benefit from the increase - 5.6 million directly and 7.4 million indirectly. This includes 7.7 million women, 3.4 million parents, and 4.7 million people of color.
  
  
• It is wrong to have millions of Americans working full-time and year-round and still living in poverty. At $5.15 an hour, a full-time minimum wage worker brings home $10,712 a year -nearly $6,000 below the poverty level for a family of three.
  
  
• A minimum wage increase is particularly important at a time when America's families have seen their real income drop by almost $1,300 since 2000, while the costs of health insurance, gasoline, home heating, and attending college have increased by almost $5,000 annually. [Government Reform, 9/21/06]
  
  
• The minimum wage has not increased in more than nine years - the longest period in the history of the law. During that time, Members of Congress have received a $31,600 pay raise. The real value of the minimum wage has plummeted to its lowest level in 51 years. [Economic Policy Institute, 6/06]
  
  
• An average CEO earns more before lunchtime in one day than a minimum wage worker earns all year. [EPI, 6/2706]