REP. CROWLEY VOTES TO RAISE THE MINIMUM WAGE
Today, Congressman Joseph Crowley (D-Queens & the Bronx), member of the Committee on Ways and Means and a chief deputy whip in the Democratic leadership, voted to give American families a pay raise. A longtime supporter of raising wages for the lowest paid workers and employees, Rep. Crowley is an original co-sponsor of the measure (HR 2), which promises to help 13 million workers nationwide. HR 2 passed 315 to 116 in the House.
"New Yorkers deserve a long overdue pay raise," Congressman Crowley said. "Families have had to endure rising costs of living, from heating our homes to paying tuition for their children's college education, while real incomes have shrunk. It has often been women and minorities, who make up a large number of minimum wage workers, who have had to pay this price. In my district of Queens and the Bronx, over 15 percent of my constituents live below the poverty level, which is unacceptable. By increasing the minimum wage, we hope these individuals and families will be lifted out of the terrible cycle of poverty."
The bipartisan bill would increase the federal minimum wage from $5.15 to $7.25 an hour over two years. Sixty 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. In the year after that, the minimum wage would increase to $7.25 an hour. Raising the minimum wage would provide an additional $4,400 a year for a family of three - the equivalent of 15 months of groceries or over two years of health care. An increase in the minimum wage is supported by 89 percent of the American public, according to a recent Newsweek poll.
The legislation holds hope for New Yorkers, with 90 percent of minimum wage workers in the city being adults, and two-thirds of that group working full time. Minorities and women in New York City stand to benefit from the increase. Over four out of five NYC minimum wage workers are people of color (41 percent are Latino, 25 percent African American and 16 percent Asian). New York women represent 59 percent of minimum wage workers (while constituting half of the city's work force). In the Congressman's Seventh District of Queens and the Bronx, 15.5 percent of the population lives below the poverty level. Since 2000, Consumer costs have risen by $5,000 at the same time American families have seen their real income drop by almost $1,300 since 2000. The minimum wage, which has remained unchanged for nearly 10 years, is at its lowest value in more than half a century.
Congressman Crowley added, "Today, the House acted to improve the lives of millions of Americans by increasing the minimum wage."
http://crowley.house.gov/news/record.asp?id=932