Congressman Alan Grayson (D-Florida) will force Republicans to go on record today, to vote on whether to support or oppose increasing the minimum wage for federal government workers.
On Tuesday, Grayson proposed an amendment to a House spending bill that would raise the minimum wage for federal government workers to $10.10. The amendment failed in a voice vote and the Congressman requested a roll call vote which was postponed until today.
“This amendment would end the federal government’s practice of paying poverty wages to its workers, and hopefully set an example for the private sector to stop paying poverty wages to its workers,” Grayson said on the House floor. (View the text of Amendment below)
In a letter today (July 16, 2014), urging his House colleagues to support the minimum wage increase, Grayson wrote:
“Extending a minimum wage increase to $10.10 across the U.S., to all types of workers, would have a dramatic impact on our nation’s economy. Fifty-five percent of the workers who would benefit from raising the minimum wage are full-time workers. Eighty-eight percent are adults over the age of 20, and nearly two-thirds of minimum wage workers are women. On average, minimum wage workers across America, bring home 50 percent of the family’s total income.
“A federal $10.10 minimum wage would raise the pay of at least 25 million workers nationwide, generating $35 billion in increased pay for working American families. Raising the minimum wage would inject $22 billion in increase economic activity into the economy and create 85,000 additional jobs. Between 1 million and 4.5 million Americans would be lifted out of poverty, and the incomes of the lowest wage workers would rise by an average of $1,700. This additional household income would help feed, clothe, and shelter approximately 14 million more American children. Clearly, raising the minimum wage is good not just for the working poor, but all Americans.”
Earlier this year, President Obama called on Congress to raise the minimum wage to $10.10. Shortly after, he signed an Executive Order to raise the minimum wage for people working on new federal service contracts.
The current federal minimum wage is $7.25.
AMENDMENT TO H.R. 5016, AS REPORTED
OFFERED BY MR. GRAYSON OF FLORIDA
At the end of the bill (before the short title), insert the following:
SEC.___. None of the funds made available by this Act may be used to pay any individual at an annual rate of Grade 1, Steps 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, or 6; or Grade 2 Step 1 or 2 as defined in the “Salary Table 2014-GS” published by the Office of Personnel Management. Further, none of the funds made available by this Act may be used to pay any individual at an hourly basic rate of Grade 1, Steps 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, or 6; or Grade 2, Step 1 or 2.
