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Supporting Workers, Small Businesses and Economic Development
Rep. Charlie Melancon has worked in Congress to bring more good-paying jobs to south Louisiana and help small businesses prosper. He believes a balance must be struck between protecting the rights of working people and preserving a pro-growth environment that gives businesses the freedom to expand.
Supporting Working People in Louisiana
Minimum Wage
Rep. Melancon is a strong supporter of hardowrking Louisianians. He is committed to fair
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"America offers enormous opportunity for those who work hard and obey
the law, but millions of citizens who put in a hard day's work are
still living in poverty. In the richest nation in the world this
should not be the case."
"I've been the owner of several small businesses in south Louisiana, so
I personally understand how hard it can be for small businesses to make
ends meet. However, no employee can be expected to survive on just
$10,700 a year, which is the current annual earnings for fulltime
minimum wage workers. I believe the best way to move more Americans into the middle class is to make sure they can earn a meaningful and fair wage, if they put
in a full day's work."
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competition for U.S. workers and ensuring that people are fairly compensated for the skill and hard work they bring to their jobs. Rep. Melancon has consistently voted to raise the minimum wage, which will be increased to $7.25 an hour by mid-2009, after this provision was included in a larger emergency funding bill passed by Congress in 2007.
Before this legislation was passed, the federal minimum wage had not increased in almost ten years - the longest period in the history of the law. As a result, the real value of the minimum wage had plummeted to its lowest level in 51 years. If the minimum wage was equal to what it was at its highest point in 1968, it would be $9.05 per hour today.
Helping Workers Hurt by Offshoring
Rep. Charlie Melancon has worked to protect American jobs and prevent them from being shipped overseas. He has
opposed unfair trade deals and was one of the lead opponents in Congress of the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA). To mitigate the negative effects of globalization, Rep. Melancon has supported legislation to assist workers who are laid off when their jobs are moved overseas, including those who work in the service sector. He supported legislation that doubled job training funding and expanded job training support for workers and, since losing a job often means losing health insurance, would also help laid-off workers afford health coverage for themselves and their families.
Right to Organize
Rep. Melancon has also worked in Congress to improve labor conditions
in south Louisiana. He supports a worker’s
| "While we can't always stop American companies from moving overseas, we
can lessen the blow on working Louisianians and help them transition
into new jobs. This legislation will make sure more American workers,
including those in service-sector jobs, have the tools they need to
compete and win in today's rapidly changing global economy." |
legal right to form a union
and recognizes the importance of good-faith and productive contract
negotiations between workers and their employers. In Congress, he has
co-sponsored and voted for legislation
that would strengthen a worker’s right to organize and implement
stronger penalties for employers who violate the workers’ legal rights
to negotiate contracts.
Encouraging Technical Education and Training
Rep. Melancon believes training more skilled workers is key to bringing better-paying jobs to south Louisiana. He is a strong supporter of Louisiana’s technical and trade schools. Since the storms, he has been a partner in encouraging the Gulf Coast Workforce Development Initiative (GCWDI), a program spearheaded by the Business Roundtable to provide critically needed new construction workers and empower the region’s workforce with new educational opportunities and careers. The GCWDI has set a goal of recruiting and training up to 20,000 new construction workers in the Gulf Coast region by the end of 2009.
Supporting Louisiana’s Small Businesses
Believing that small businesses are the foundation of our economy in south Louisiana, Rep. Melancon has been a strong supporter of pro-small business legislation in Congress. Before serving in public office, Rep. Melancon was a successful small businessman and entrepreneur, having run several Baskin Robbins franchises in south Louisiana and his own insurance agency during the 1980s and early 1990s.
| “Small businesses are the bedrock of our towns and communities in south
Louisiana, and I am proud to support them in Congress so they can
continue to grow and expand, providing good jobs for our people and
prosperity for our communities." |
In Congress, Rep. Melancon has supported legislation to provide new opportunities for south Louisiana’s small businesses to help them grow and prosper. He has voted for legislation that would ensure small business owners have the opportunity to compete for contracts from the federal government, putting them on a more level playing field with large corporations. He has also supported tax relief for small businesses, voting for legislation that will help them grow by providing tax credits and incentives for expanding and purchasing new equipment. This legislation would also help small businesses adjust to the impact of the minimum wage increase, which will affect their bottom line more than that of larger businesses.
While Rep. Melancon has worked to protect American jobs from foreign competition, he also understands that some small businesses in south Louisiana have a need for temporary foreign workers because they are unable to find Americans to fill certain jobs. Seafood and sugarcane processors in particular depend on seasonal labor to harvest and process their crops. Rep. Melancon has supported legislation in Congress to temporarily raise the cap for returning temporary "H2B" nonagricultural workers.
Reforming the Small Business Administration
Rep. Melancon has also been a leader in fighting for reform of the Small Business Administration, the federal agency that failed miserably to provide relief to devastated Gulf Coast small business owners after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Rep. Melancon was an original co-sponsor of a comprehensive SBA reform bill and drafted several key provisions in the bill that specifically address the needs of small business owners in south Louisiana.
| "When small business owners needed help the most, the SBA failed them,"
Rep. Melancon said after the House passed the SBA reform legislation. After months of frustration, many gave up on getting any assistance
from the SBA and either kept their businesses closed or drained their
personal resources struggling to stay afloat. The RECOVER Act will
make sure that the SBA catastrophe that followed Katrina and Rita
doesn't happen again, and small businesses can get the help they need
to get back on their feet." |
Specifically, Rep. Melancon worked with other members of the Louisiana delegation to improve the efficiency of the SBA’s disaster relief program by allowing the SBA to partner with private lenders to distribute disaster loans to small business owners. Rep. Melancon was also successful in pushing to double the SBA’s maximum individual disaster loan limits so that small businesses that are severely damaged by a major disaster can secure enough financing to begin rebuilding. Further, Rep. Melancon led efforts to increase the flexibility of SBA regulations so that small businesses along the Gulf Coast that were trying to adjust to meet post-storm demands would have greater access to disaster recovery loans.
Supporting Louisiana’s Oil and Gas Industry
Expanding Offshore Drilling & Securing Fair Revenue-Sharing for Louisiana
Rep. Melancon has a strong record of supporting legislation that will help grow Louisiana's economy and create more and better jobs for south Louisianians. Primary among the pro-business bills that Rep. Melancon has supported was legislation to expand offshore drilling in the Gulf of Mexico and increase Louisiana's share of the royalties derived from this industry.
Rep. Melancon helped craft the House version of the bill and secured passage of the Republican-supported legislation by convincing 39 fellow Democrats to cross party lines and vote in favor of the bill, providing the margin of victory it needed to pass in the House. The historic legislation, which was signed into law in 2006, will open 8.3 million acres in the Gulf of Mexico to offshore oil and natural gas drilling and share 37.5 percent of the new revenues with Louisiana and the other oil-producing states along the Gulf Coast. The new revenue-sharing deal is projected to provide for Louisiana’s coastal restoration projects a dedicated revenue stream of more than $13 billion over the next 30 years.
Encouraging International Economic Partnerships
Rep. Melancon has also worked to build international economic partnerships to strengthen Louisiana’s oil and gas industries. After traveling on a trade mission to the oil-rich Asian nation of Kazkhstan in 2005, Rep. Melancon launched an initiative to open the door for Louisiana’s oil and gas companies to help develop Kazakhstan's energy infrastructure and fully realize the new democracy’s potential as a major supplier of oil to the world. Kazakhstan has an estimated 92 billion barrels in untapped oil reserves located in conditions very similar to those off the coast of Louisiana. Rep. Melancon has advocated that local companies in Louisiana can prosper from participating in global markets and is working to facilitate and nurture international relationships that will bring jobs and economic development to south Louisiana.
Opposing Tax Increases for Louisiana Businesses
Rep. Melancon has also broken ranks with his party in Congress to side with Louisiana businesses. He voted against
Following his vote against the energy tax package, Rep. Melancon
commented, “I firmly believe the tax package included in this bill
would hurt Louisiana’s oil and gas industry, costing our state jobs and
stifling our economy. Raising taxes on American businesses will not
make us more energy independent, and less domestic energy production
means higher energy costs for Louisianians. I cannot support a bill
that does that.”
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an energy bill that would have saddled Louisiana’s oil and gas industry with higher taxes and slowed exploration and expansion in the Gulf.
For his support in Congress for measures that will stimulate job creation and spur economic growth, Rep. Melancon was awarded the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s prestigious “Spirit of Enterprise” award in 2007.
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Issues & Legislation 