On the recordMarch 25, 2015
I thank the gentlewoman from Michigan. Mr. Speaker, with more women as the primary breadwinners than ever, it is important to point out that two-thirds of the minimum wage workers are women. Women are notoriously underrepresented with equal pay for equal work. The Federal minimum wage right now is only $7.25 per hour. A woman working full time would make just $14,500. That is below the poverty line for a family of three. If we want to make sure American families can work hard to get ahead, it seems that we would want to make sure they are getting paid enough to do so; yet this issue is completely absent from the Republican budget, and still, women will be notoriously underpaid for the work that they do. Mr. Speaker, women are also notoriously underrepresented in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics fields. These are the jobs of tomorrow. These are the jobs that will grow our economy, that will make us globally competitive. Unfortunately, we cannot address these issues of underrepresentation of women in those areas--science, technology, engineering, and mathematics--because the Republican budget that we passed today does not think it is important. The people's budget, on the other hand, would lift the minimum wage, would increase the opportunities for women in educational fields where they have been underrepresented and would result in a raise for more than 27.8 million workers, including the 15.3 million women.…
