DeLauro Votes to Pass First Minimum Wage Increase In Over A Decade

WASHINGTON, DC (July 18, 2019) – Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (CT-03) today voted to pass the Raise the Wage Act, which would raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2025. DeLauro spoke on the House Floor in favor of the bill, which passed by a vote of 231-199. Below are DeLauro's remarks as delivered, and a video is available here.

Mr. Speaker, let's be clear: since Franklin Roosevelt the federal government has been increasing the federal minimum wage. Don't let them get away with this hogwash about what we do and what we don't do here.

Wages for the top 1 percent have grown 157 percent since 1979. Wages for middle-class families and working families have stagnated. Their wages do not keep up with skyrocketing costs of health care, prescription drugs, child care, housing, college education. This is the single biggest economic challenge of our time. So, today, full-time, year-round work at the federal minimum wage of $7.25 leaves a family of three below the Federal Poverty Line. Unacceptable! Because working people have more than earned a raise. According to the Economic Policy Institute, if the minimum wage increased equal to the increases in workers' productivity, it would be more than $20 per hour.

Congress need to make this right. Clearly my colleagues on the other side of the aisle do not respect the work of 34 million Americans. They don't respect the dignity of the work that these folks do. It is our job. Let us pass the Raise the Wage Act. Working people are doing their jobs. Let us do ours.