Cass Ballenger: “Mr. Speaker, sound public policy frequently takes a back seat to election year politics--and there is no clearer example…”

“Mr. Speaker, sound public policy frequently takes a back seat to election year politics--and there is no clearer example of this than the current debate on raising the minimum wage. We have all heard the rhetoric from the other side, where day after day my colleagues have taken to the floor to argue that we need to help working families by increasing the minimum wage. They have painted a picture that the average minimum wage worker is a head of a household who is trying to support a family earning the minimum wage, just $8,840 a year. Well-- that picture is phoney--just as phoney as the arguments of those who would vote to increase the minimum wage. According to data from the U.S. Census Bureau, only 11 percent of all workers earning $5.15 an hour or less are the sole supporters of their families. More than 35 percent of minimum wage earners are teenagers or other workers living with their parents and only 2.8 percent are single parents supporting a family. Raising the minimum wage is not an effective way to help the working poor.”