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Happening Today: House Education and Labor Committe Holds Hearing on Raise the Wage Act of 2019


This morning and into the afternoon, the 50 member House Education and Labor Committee is holding a hearing to hear testimony and further review the Raise the Wage Act of 2019.  In January, Democrats in the House of Representatives introduced legislation that seeks to raise the federal hourly minimum wage rate from its current rate of $7.25/hour up to $15/hour by 2024.  While Democrats appear to have the votes to get the bill out of the House, it is expected that it will face resistance from Republicans that maintain majority control of the Senate.

With this proposed legislation, several business groups have argued that increasing the federal hourly minimum wage rate to $15/hour will ultimately result in employers cutting jobs and hours to offset the rising labor costs.  While some large employers might be able to bear the brunt of this proposed wage increase, smaller businesses have expressed concern over their ability to stay open.  Notably, the Chamber of Commerce has indicated that for a federal hourly minimum wage hike to garner enough support to pass in Congress, there would likely need to be a concession given for smaller employers.

On the other hand, over 100 economists submitted a letter to President Donald Trump and suggested that even if employees have their hours cut, they "could still break even, or come out ahead, in terms of annual earnings."

These type of committee hearings allow witnesses to appear and give testimony, answer questions from members of Congress, and advocate (one way or another) for the passage or denial of legislation.  As some readers have seen, some of these hearings often turn into nothing more than an opportunity for a member of Congress to grandstand in front of the cameras.  Nevertheless, these hearings are a routine occurrence when Congress is considering a piece of legislation.

At this time, we are still very early in the process in regard to the eventual passage (or failure) of the Raise the Wage Act of 2019.  With that being said, this House Committee hearing today is the first step in moving the legislation along.  If you are free this afternoon, I suggest giving either the opening statement of House Committee Chairman Bobby Scott a read, reviewing the letter submitted by the economists, or watching the hearing and testimony itself.


For a copy of the opening statement of Chairman Scott:  https://edlabor.house.gov/imo/media/doc/ChairScottOS_MinWageHearing020719.pdf


The House Education and Labor Committee hearing:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDGkim7aaHI
 

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