House Committee on Education and Labor
U.S. House of Representatives

Through tax cuts and other pro-growth reforms, House Republicans have established a track record of proactive and successful economic policies.  In the 110th Congress, House Republicans will build upon this record to ensure that any minimum wage increase includes meaningful considerations for America’s small businesses, while protecting and expanding benefits for working families that depend upon them.

House Republican Fiscal Policies are Strengthening the Economy, Creating Jobs

House Republican policies have spurred the economy to create jobs, improve worker wages, and increase the value of worker retirement savings.

• With the help of Republican tax cuts and economic policies, more than seven million new jobs have been added to the domestic economy since August 2003, spanning more than three years of uninterrupted job growth.
  
• Worker wages have risen more than 150 percent faster than in the early 1990s, with the average level of compensation in 2005 seven percent higher than in 2000.
  
• Per capita disposable income has risen 9.2 percent in real dollars since early 2001.
  
• The average 401(k) retirement savings plan increased nearly 65 percent in value from 2002 to 2005.
  

House Republicans Will Fight An Irresponsible Minimum Wage Increase

An unbalanced minimum wage increase could halt this momentum dead in its tracks.  Independent studies confirm that the House Democrat proposal to raise the minimum wage, without including considerations for small businesses and their workers, would hurt precisely those it intends to help.

• The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates a minimum wage increase without considerations for small businesses and their workers would impose a $5-$7 billion unfunded mandate on small businesses.
  
• As a result, according to the Hoover Institution, 20 percent (1.6 million) of the nation’s minimum wage workforce could lose their jobs under the unbalanced Democrat plan.
  
• Moreover, as many as one million workers in the restaurant industry alone could lose their jobs, according to a study reviewed by a Federal Reserve economist.
  
• CBO also estimates a minimum wage increase without considerations for small businesses and their workers would impose a $300-$400 million unfunded mandate on state and local governments.
  

House Republicans Have Supported a Balanced Approach to the Minimum Wage

In August 2006, House Republicans – with the support of 34 House Democrats – voted to increase the federal minimum wage to $7.25 as part of a balanced and comprehensive package.

• The measure was jobs-neutral and was designed to avoid inadvertently hurting the very families a minimum wage hike is supposed to help.

• Equally important, last year’s House Republican minimum wage legislation included significant protections for small businesses and their workers. 
  
• The Bush Administration supports a minimum wage package with considerations for small businesses and their workers.  In December 2006, President Bush said, “I believe we should do it in a way that does not punish the millions of small businesses that are creating most of the new jobs in our country.  So I support pairing it with targeted tax and regulatory relief to help these small businesses stay competitive and to help keep our economy growing.  I look forward to working with Republicans and Democrats to help both small business owners and workers when Congress convenes in January.”
  

House Republican Policies Promote Small Businesses and Protect Their Workers

Small businesses create two-thirds of the nation’s new jobs and represent 98 percent of the new businesses in the United States.  As Congress considers a measure to increase the minimum wage, its impact on these businesses and their workers must be taken into consideration. 

• Small businesses and their workers are particularly desperate for relief from the high costs of health insurance, and House Republicans have worked to deliver that relief to them.

• According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 46.5 million Americans have no health insurance.  Nearly two-thirds of them are fully employed, with nearly two-thirds of these uninsured workers either self-employed or working for a small business. 
  
• Many of the newly uninsured are small business employees whose employers cannot afford to offer health plans to their workers because of skyrocketing health care costs. 
  
• To ease their burden and provide meaningful benefits to more working families, House Republicans passed legislation in the 109th Congress to allow small businesses to band together through associations and purchase quality health care for workers and their families at a lower cost.  36 Democrats supported the measure as well.  House Republicans have introduced the same legislation in the 110th Congress.
  
• Small Business Health Plans would increase small businesses’ bargaining power with health care providers, give them freedom from costly state-mandated benefit packages, and lower their health care costs by as much as 30 percent.
  
• Small Business Health Plans enjoy the support of a diverse coalition of more than 180 groups, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the National Federation of Independent Business, the American Farm Bureau Federation, the Associated Builders and Contractors, The Latino Coalition, the National Black Chamber of Commerce, the National Association of Women Business Owners, and the National Restaurant Association.

As Congress considers legislation to increase the federal minimum wage, House Republicans will offer a proactive alternative that ensures small businesses and their workers are not left behind. Small businesses are the backbone of the American economy, and it’s important for Congress to ensure a minimum wage mandate does not have a harmful effect on small employers’ ability to create jobs – and provide benefits – for working families.