Tsunami Warning, Education, and Research Act
Floor Speech
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Mr. FRANKEN. Mr. President, as we enter the holiday season, today should be a special day for 4.2 million working Americans, including 75,000 Minnesotans. That is because today was supposed to be the day that the overtime rule would go into effect to ensure that workers are paid overtime wages when they work more than 40 hours in a week.
Instead, the rule has been blocked, meaning that many of these working people will not be able to benefit from this rule, which is especially unfortunate given that the holidays are coming upon us. Right now, these 4.2 million employees don't have to be paid at all for overtime work they perform. That is what we are trying to change.
As you know, we had a big election in which working people sent the clear message they are hurting. Yet less than a month later, Republicans have decided to attack a rule that would ensure that American workers are paid for every hour they work. This is exactly the type of policy we should all be able to agree on to help working people across the country.
During the campaign, President-Elect Trump repeatedly said he was for working people. One important action he could take immediately would be to go on his twitter account and express support for the overtime rule.
Here is why this rule matters so much. As our economy has changed in the past couple of decades, the rule on overtime pay has not kept pace at all. The last meaningful improvement for workers covered by this rule came in 1975, when the rule made 62 percent of so-called administrative and professional employees eligible for overtime pay. As a result of failing to keep the rule up-to-date and current with the rate of inflation, right now only 7 percent of employees in that category must be paid overtime.
The Obama administration's update to the overtime rule was intended to change the fact that under the standard right now, employers aren't required to pay overtime to these employees unless the employees earn less than $23,000 a year. If you are paid on a salary basis and earn more than $23,000 a year, your employer can make you work more than 40 hours a week and not pay you anything at all for your extra hours. Twenty-three thousand dollars is simply too low of a threshold. A salary of $23,000 a year is below the poverty line for a family of four. I believe workers and their families deserve better.
That is why the Obama administration instituted an update to the overtime rule, to lift the salary threshold to $47,000 a year, bringing it closer to the original standard in place in 1975. It still wouldn't be as high as the comparable level in 1975, but it would be a vast improvement, and it would mean that 4.2 million more workers across the United States would qualify for overtime pay.
Consider a retail manager making a salary of $40,000 a year at a big box store or fast-food chain. Right now, many employers are legally allowed to require such an employee to work 50, 60 or more hours in a week without paying him or her anything extra. This new rule would mean the employee would be paid extra when they work more than 40 hours a week.
Similarly, the rule would make sure a trucking dispatcher earning $45,000 a year would not be forced to work late at night without compensation. The rule encourages his or her employer to send employees home to his or her family on time or else the employer will pay them for the overtime he or she works.
This is very important for working men and women in America. That is why many of my colleagues and I have been strong supporters of this rule. That is why it has been very disappointing to see so many of my Republican colleagues attack and ultimately try to dismantle this rule.
They have been attacking the rule ever since it was proposed. They have set out on a campaign to delay, to water down, or to block the rule entirely. In the Senate, 45 Republicans have signed on to a bill to block it. In the House, 202 Members have signed on to a companion measure to that bill. House Speaker Paul Ryan claims the rule is an ``absolute disaster,'' and Senator Vitter claims the rule will ``reduce worker's opportunity for long-term advancement and increased pay.''
Despite their attacks on this updated rule in the House and in the Senate, Republicans weren't able to block it through the legislative process. So they took their fight to the courts, where they used their old tactic of forum shopping, where they file a suit in the court they think is most likely to be favorable for their arguments. As a result, 9 days ago, they convinced a Texas judge to put the updated overtime rule on hold. The 4.2 million workers who today were scheduled to be paid for every hour they work above the 40 could continue to be forced to work overtime without the additional compensation they deserve.
As our economy has continued to recover from the Great Recession, too much of the wealth in the last few years has accrued to the top 1 percent in this country and often the top one-tenth of 1 percent. While new data suggests the economy has improved a bit for middle-class workers since last year, the median household income in the United States remains lower than it was in the year 2000 in real dollars.
Updating our overtime pay rule is one of the most effective steps we can take to put working people back on a more level economic playing field.
I hope my colleagues will join me today in pledging to fight in Congress, the executive branch, and the courts for a fairer system for all workers and for updating this incredibly outdated overtime rule.
Let's hope that the postponement of the new rule today will be temporary. Let's join forces on behalf of American workers to stand strong in support of a fair overtime rule and to work together to build a stronger American middle class.
I thank the Presiding Officer.
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