[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 123 (Monday, July 22, 2019)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E953]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           RAISE THE WAGE ACT

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                               speech of

                         HON. DAVID B. McKINLEY

                            of west virginia

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, July 18, 2019

  Mr. McKINLEY. Mr. Speaker, working Americans are rightfully concerned 
with their salaries and wages. H.R. 582, the ``Raise the Wage Act'' was 
an attempt to address this issue by increasing the minimum wage up to 
$15/hour. Unfortunately, this is not the right approach. The 
nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) stated that this could 
result in the loss of up to 3.7 million jobs.
  Incremental increases in the federal minimum wage are appropriate, 
and I was proud to support West Virginia's recent increase of the 
minimum wage to $8.75/hour. But the fact is, H.R. 582 did not account 
for regional differences in cost of living. $15/hour may work for 
places like Manhattan and San Francisco but would devastate small 
businesses in the Mountain State.
  Further, such a drastic increase in the minimum wage would harm those 
workers that this bill claims to help. CBO has estimated that of the 
millions of jobs lost, 46 percent will be young workers and 38 percent 
will be those without a high school diploma. For every person lifted 
out of poverty by this bill, another 1 to 3 jobs would be put at risk.
  If Democrats in Congress are serious about addressing issues 
surrounding the minimum wage, they should have proposed legislation 
that accounts for regional factors and slowly increases it to a more 
reasonable level, instead of pushing a one size fits all 107 percent 
increase nationwide. Unfortunately, this legislation would have been 
unworkable for West Virginia and I was given no other choice but to 
oppose it.

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