Mazie Hirono: “I will keep my remarks short because I know there are others who want to speak on why we need to raise the minimum wage…”

“I will keep my remarks short because I know there are others who want to speak on why we need to raise the minimum wage from $7.25 to $10.10. I will focus on Hawaii. In Hawaii, nearly 100,000 women would get a raise if we were to do this. That is one out of five women workers in Hawaii. The Presiding Officer and I are both from Hawaii. We know the high cost of living in Hawaii. Minimum wage amounts to about $14,500 a year. The average rent for a one-bedroom residence in Hawaii is almost $1,300 a month. That is more than $15,000 a year. It is no wonder people in Hawaii have to work more than one job. In Hawaii, tourism is our No. 1 industry. We have a lot of tipped workers. They work in our restaurants. Do my colleagues know there are many people who work in our restaurants who can't even afford to eat in the restaurant in which they work? When we raise the minimum wage, we are going to enable a lot of families to not have to rely on various programs such as SNAP. In Hawaii, over 15,000 workers would no longer need these kinds of benefits. I yield the floor. The PRESIDING OFFICER (Ms. Hirono). The Senator from Michigan.”