Weekly
Address: Time for Congress to Raise the Minimum Wage for the American People
The White House
March 8, 2014
Hi, everybody. This week, I traveled to New England, where I
was joined by four governors who are working to raise the minimum wage in each
of their states. And they’ve also joined
me in calling on Congress to raise the minimum wage from $7.25 to $10.10 an
hour. Because it would give nearly
800,000 Americans in their states a raise – and lift wages for about 28 million
across the country.
So these governors aren’t waiting
for Congress to make up its mind. And in
my State of the Union Address, I asked America’s business leaders to go ahead
and do what they could to raise their employees’ wages, too. And increasingly, it’s not just large
companies like Costco or the Gap that choose to pay their employees higher starting
wages.
It’s smaller businesses like
Jaxson’s, a family-owned ice cream parlor in South Florida. They answered the call and raised their wages
so that more than 70 employees would earn at least $10.10 an hour, without
cutting back on hiring.
And two weeks ago, an Atlanta
small business owner named Darien Southerland [SUTH-er-lind] wrote me to share
a lesson his grandmother taught him – that if you treat your employees right,
they’ll treat you right. And Vice
President Biden paid him a visit this week.
I agree with these business
owners, which is why I issued an executive order requiring federal contractors
to pay their employees a fair wage of at least $10.10 an hour. It’s good for our bottom line. And working Americans have struggled through
stagnant wages for far too long.
A clear majority of Americans
support raising the minimum wage, because we believe that nobody who works
full-time should have to live in poverty.
About half of all Republicans support raising the minimum wage, too. It’s just too bad they don’t serve in
Congress. Because the Republicans who do
serve in Congress don’t want to vote on the minimum wage at all. Some even want to get rid of it
completely. Seriously.
That’s why what business leaders
and everyday Americans are doing to raise wages is so important. Because change doesn’t come from Washington –
change comes to Washington. I’ve always
believed that, and it’s true in this case, too.
Outside Washington, Americans are ready to put aside old political
arguments and move this country forward.
The American people are way ahead of Congress on this issue, and we’ve
just got to let Congress know that. It’s
time for “ten-ten.” It’s time to give
America a raise. And it’s time to
restore opportunity for all.
Thanks, and have a great weekend. |
