The House of Representatives should pass legislation to increase the federal minimum wage by $2.10 – from $5.15 to $7.25 – without “poison pills” and parliamentary maneuvers designed to prevent a $2.10 increase from becoming law. After ten years, America’s workers deserve a raise - - no strings or roadblocks attached.

A majority of the Senate – 53 senators – now supports a $2.10 increase in the minimum wage without any extra provisions. Recently 260 members of the House also showed their support for a “clean” $2.10 increase. There is no good reason for preventing a House vote on a straightforward $2.10 increase in the minimum wage, which could then easily become law.

The House must not disregard the wishes of a majority of Congress -- not to mention the overwhelming majority of Americans -- by only allowing consideration of an alternative minimum wage package so larded with outrageous “poison pills” that it will never become law.

The Senate recently rejected -- by a vote of 45 to 53 -- just such a sham proposal. The Enzi amendment would allow employers to cut a worker’s overtime pay by $3,000 per year by substituting an 80-hour, two-week work period for the traditional 40-hour workweek. The Enzi amendment would cut pay by as much as $5.50 an hour for tipped workers, by nullifying minimum wage protections for tipped workers under state law. And the Enzi amendment would strip minimum wage and overtime eligibility from over 7 million workers. Another example of a poison pill would be the addition of the Association Health Plan (AHP) legislation that was rejected by the U.S. Senate just within the last two months. 

 Members of the House recently cleared the way to give themselves another $3,300 congressional pay raise, the ninth pay raise Congress has approved for itself since it last increased the minimum wage. America’s Republican leadership needs to drop its shameful games and give America’s workers the $2.10 raise they deserve.

Contact: Esmeralda Aguilar (202) 637-5018