Stop the Diversionary Tactics and Raise the Minimum Wage!
The following resolution was passed by the Democratic National Committee at its meeting on August 19, 2006.
Submitted by:
Linda Chavez Thompson, DNC Vice Chair/Texas
Alice Germond, DNC Secretary/West Virginia
Steven K. Alari, California
Ben L. Jeffers, At-Large/Louisiana
Renee Gill Pratt, Louisiana
Leon Lynch, At-Large/Pennsylvania
Betty McElderry, Oklahoma
James K. Metcalfe, Chair, Alaska
Resolution Calling on Republicans to Stop Their Diversionary Tactics and Pass A Long-Overdue and Much Needed Minimum Wage Increase
WHEREAS, the promise of a fair day’s pay for a fair day’s work is a basic American value; and
WHEREAS, a decent minimum wage is a hallmark of a fair economy and just society; and
WHEREAS, the nation’s first minimum wage law was signed by a great Democratic president, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, in 1938, and the most recent increase in the wage rate, to $5.15 per hour, was signed by another great Democratic President, Bill Clinton, ten years ago; and
WHEREAS, since Democrats won the 1996 minimum wage increase, the value of the minimum wage has fallen steadily and today, it is worth less than at any time in the last 50 years; and
WHEREAS, for decades, a minimum wage worker was able to earn enough in a year of full-time work to lift a family of three out of poverty, but today, earnings for full-time minimum wage workers fall almost $5,000 below that poverty level; and
WHEREAS, the federal minimum wage is so disgracefully low that now, during a period of extraordinary prosperity for the nation’s corporations and wealthiest families, the average CEO earns as much in just a few hours on the first workday of the year as a full-time minimum wage worker earns the entire year; and
WHEREAS, legislation sponsored by Senator Edward Kennedy and Representative George Miller would raise the minimum wage to $7.25 per hour, with the increase phased in incrementally over 26 months; and
WHEREAS, raising the minimum wage to $7.25 per hour will benefit more than 15 million workers, most of whom are adults; and
WHEREAS, raising the minimum wage will benefit working families who most need help, as minimum wage workers, on average, contribute more than half of their families’ earnings, and more than one-third of workers who would get a raise provide all of their families’ earnings; and
WHEREAS, women and people of color will disproportionately benefit from a minimum wage increase because of their concentration in low wage jobs; and
WHEREAS, even as Republicans have blocked a minimum wage increase for the nation’s lowest paid workers, they have voted themselves nine pay hikes since the last increase, and they have pushed through huge tax breaks and other reckless fiscal and economic policies that have fueled enormous income growth for the nation’s wealthiest families while promoting unprecedented expansion of income inequality; and
WHEREAS, in a cynical and fiscally irresponsible election year stunt, Republicans in the House and Senate have refused to allow a straight up and down vote on raising the minimum wage and instead, have tried to use the urgent need for an increase to push through new estate tax breaks for multi-millionaires and restrictions on the power of states to strengthen wage protections for low paid workers; and
WHEREAS, tying a minimum wage hike that will increase annual earnings $1,200 for 7 million of the nation’s lowest paid workers to an estate tax break worth an average of $1.3 million to 8,200 beneficiaries is a perversion of our nation’s values and priorities; and
WHEREAS, in a display of leadership and visionary concern for America’s future, Senate Democrats refused to bow to the Republicans’ cynical ploy and stood together to defeat this irresponsible election year trickery;
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the Democratic National Committee reaffirms this party’s historic support for and commitment to a fair minimum wage that rewards work and helps lift workers and their families from poverty; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Democratic National Committee deplores cynical attempts by congressional Republicans to block a minimum wage hike or use the urgent need for an increase as blackmail to win new tax breaks for the nation’s multi-millionaires; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Democratic National Committee applauds the efforts at the State level to raise the minimum wage for the workers in the state opposes any changes in the federal minimum wage law that would undermine efforts by states to raise wages for their lowest paid workers; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Democratic National Committee commends Democrats in Congress who have stood together and refused to bend to Republicans’ election year trickery; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Democratic National Committee calls on Congress to promptly pass and the president to quickly sign a clean minimum wage bill that will raise the minimum wage to $7.25 per hour, so that the nation’s lowest paid workers and their families receive a much-deserved and long overdue pay hike.
Comments (1) «
« Hide Comments
Comments are now closed for this entry.
