Providing for Consideration of H.R. 3865, Stop Targeting of Political Beliefs by the IRS Act of 2014; Providing for Consideration of H.R. 2804, All Economic Regulations are Transparent Act of 2014; and Providing for Consideration of Motions to Suspend the Rules

Floor Speech

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Mr. BISHOP of New York. I thank the gentleman from Colorado for yielding.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition on the motion to move the previous question so that this body may consider H.R. 1010, the Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2013.

This crucial piece of legislation will positively impact the lives of nearly 30 million American workers and their families by gradually raising the Federal minimum wage from its current $7.25 an hour to $10.10 an hour by 2016. Beyond 2016, the bill ties the Federal minimum wage to annual inflation, ensuring that hardworking men and women will never again see their wages stagnate due to congressional obstruction or inaction.

Let's first discuss who benefits from this legislation. I am sure that many watching at home and some in this very room may have a skewed perception of the contemporary minimum wage worker. I will try my best to clear up a few of these fallacies so that this debate can be framed by fact and not by stereotype.

The average age of the minimum wage worker is 35 years old: 54 percent of them are full-time workers, and 55 percent of them are women. The average affected worker earns half of his or her family's total income, and more than one-fourth of the minimum wage workers have children. Of the Nation's, roughly, 75 million children, nearly one-fifth of them have at least one parent who would receive a raise if the minimum wage were increased to $10.10 an hour. An employee working 40 hours per week for the entire 52-week calendar--no time off--at the Federal minimum wage will earn just $15,080 in 2014.

Now, who can live on $15,000 a year?

I just heard the gentleman from Georgia speak passionately about his concern for the American worker. I would ask that gentleman and others who are concerned about the American worker: Are you concerned about all of the American workers, or are you just concerned with those who earn at higher brackets than $15,080 a year? A worker who works full time and is still below the Federal poverty level will qualify for Medicaid, for CHIP, for SNAP, and for other public assistance programs that will cost taxpayers approximately $7 billion this year alone.

Let's raise the minimum wage, and let's lift people out of poverty without spending a dime of additional Federal money. Let's save on those programs that the Federal Government has put in place to help those maintain a standard of living who need a helping hand.

A recent poll conducted by Quinnipiac University found that 71 percent of American workers support raising the minimum wage. That same poll found that Democrats, Republicans and Independents are all in agreement that raising the minimum wage is the right thing to do.

The SPEAKER pro tempore. The time of the gentleman has expired.

Mr. POLIS. I yield an additional 1 minute to the gentleman from New York.

Mr. BISHOP of New York. I refer back to the words of Speaker Boehner in his first speech to this Chamber upon being sworn in as Speaker on January 5, 2011.

He said:

This is the people's House. This is their Congress--it is not about us; it is about them--and what they want is a government that is honest, accountable, and responsive to their needs.

Seventy-one percent of the American people are asking us to do this. If the Speaker's words mean more than just words on a page, I would urge him to bring this bill to the floor so that we can respond to the 71 percent of the American people who think that raising the minimum wage is good economic policy and that it is good personnel policy.

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