Chairman Miller Statement on House Vote on Tax Cuts to Accompany Minimum Wage Increase 

Friday, February 16, 2007

WASHINGTON, DC -- U.S. Rep. George Miller (D-CA), chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee and the sponsor of legislation to increase the national minimum wage from $5.15 to $7.25 per hour, issued the following statement today after the House approved a package of small business tax cuts that paves the way for the House and Senate to agree on a minimum wage increase.

"It's unfortunate that Republicans in the Senate held a minimum wage increase hostage to tax cuts. But the House Ways and Means Committee, by developing the package of small business tax cuts that the House approved today, has taken us a big step closer to sending a minimum wage increase to the President's desk. We should get this minimum wage increase done as quickly as possible.

"Minimum wage workers have waited nearly ten years for a raise that they desperately need. These ten years have been the longest period in the history of the law without a wage increase. During this time, the minimum wage has dropped to its lowest buying power in 51 years. A full-time minimum wage worker in 2006 earned just $10,712 - which is $5,888 less than the $16,000 needed to lift a family of three out of poverty.

"Raising the minimum wage is an important first step for the Congress in its efforts to strengthen the middle class. It will make a real and critical difference in millions of people's lives.  For a family of three, the increased minimum wage will mean an additional $4,400 a year, equaling 15 months worth of groceries or two years worth of healthcare."

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