Lucille Roybal-Allard: “today I proudly stand with our new Speaker Nancy Pelosi and my Democratic colleagues as we live up to our promise to…”

“today I proudly stand with our new Speaker Nancy Pelosi and my Democratic colleagues as we live up to our promise to honor workers by passing the Fair Minimum Wage Act. Increasing the minimum wage from $5.15 to $7.25 an hour over 2 years is badly needed and long overdue. The previous Republican-led Congress passed tax cuts for the wealthiest and ignored the needs of hard working Americans earning the Federal minimum wage. The result has been that our Nation's Federal minimum wage workers have been forced to support themselves and their families for nine years on a mere $5.15 an hour, while at the same time the cost of living has continued to climb. The severity of a mere $5.15 hourly wage is highlighted by what is happening in my home State of California, where the State minimum wage is $7.50 an hour. This is more than two dollars an hour more than the current Federal minimum wage. Yet many Californians, including many in my own district, continue to live in poverty. How much greater a struggle for survival it must be for those in our country earning only $5.15 an hour. Who are the workers in our country earning the Federal minimum wage? Most are full time hard-working American adults. Most have not had the educational and career opportunities of higher wage earners. Many of these workers are minorities and nearly all of these workers provide essential services, often in jobs that are dangerous and unreliable, yet essential to our American economy.”