The Minimum Wage

Floor Speech

I come to the floor to discuss the proposed minimum wage hike and the jobs it will cost Americans.

With more than 10 million Americans unemployed, the last thing this body should be doing is considering legislation that would jeopardize jobs. Yet this week we are back in session with another one of the Democrats' election-year gimmicks: a 40-percent minimum wage hike that the Congressional Budget Office estimates would result in a loss of up to 1 million jobs in this country.

Minimum wage hikes are a favorite Democratic proposal when economic times are tough and election-year prospects are dim. Hiking wages sounds good, after all, and Democrats figure it is a sure-fire way to appeal to Americans. But the truth is that when the consequences of a minimum wage hike are explained to them, Americans don't want it. Why is that? Because Americans want jobs. A minimum wage hike during such a weak economic recovery wouldn't result in job gains; it would result in job losses. It is simple: When you make something more expensive, people can afford less of it. When you drive up the cost of hiring workers, employers can't afford to hire as many of them, especially when you consider that many of those who employ minimum wage workers are small business owners.

Democrats are proposing a 40-percent hike in an economy in which unemployment is already high and job growth is already weak--in other words, a massive minimum wage hike under the worst possible conditions.

It should surprise no one that the Congressional Budget Office has estimated this hike could cost up to 1 million jobs. Who would be hurt by most by these lost jobs? Women, for one. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that 57 percent of the roughly half a million jobs that would be lost by the end of 2016 thanks to this bill would be jobs that are held by women. Young people would also be hit particularly hard. Our economy's overall unemployment rate is not good, but the unemployment rate for 16- to 24-year-olds is even worse--more than twice the national average. The unemployment rate for African Americans between 16 and 24 is still worse than that--a staggering 23.6 percent, almost four times the national average.

Duquesne University economist Antony Davies estimates that the Democrats' proposed minimum wage increase would hike unemployment for those under 25 years old without a high school diploma by 7 to 10 percent. If you are somebody who really needs a job--people under 25 years old without a diploma--the unemployment rate, which is already staggeringly high, could go up by 7 to 10 percent according to a Duquesne University economist.

Finally, the Democrats' proposed minimum wage hike would harm the lowest income and lowest skilled workers--in other words, the very people it is supposed to help. When businesses are faced with the reality of higher employment costs from a minimum wage hike, who are they going to let go? Low skilled workers, the same workers who are most likely to be making the minimum wage.

In a March 2014 survey of businesses currently employing minimum wage workers, 38 percent reported they would have to let some employees go to cover the cost of the minimum wage hike, while 54 percent reported they would reduce their hiring.

In South Dakota small business owners told me the same thing at a recent roundtable I held in my State. Multiple Main Street business owners told me they would stop hiring younger, less experienced workers and/or reduce the hours of their current employees. Others spoke of the devastating impact the cost increases would have on their businesses. One gentleman who employs 30 workers at a Dairy Queen in South Dakota told me that a $3 increase in the minimum wage would cost his business an additional $100,000 per year. That is a huge amount for a small business in a rural area of South Dakota. To deal with these costs, this owner, like so many other small business owners around the country, is going to be forced to hike prices on the products he offers, and that will affect individuals and families in South Dakota and across the country.

Middle-class families have already seen their incomes fall by nearly $3,500 on this President's watch. The Congressional Budget Office makes clear that a minimum wage hike will mean their purchasing power will be even further reduced and eroded.

The evidence is clear: Minimum wage hikes cost jobs. When informed that they cost jobs, the strong majority of Americans reject these hikes, but unfortunately Democrats have a habit of ignoring both the evidence and the American people.

Take ObamaCare. Democrats jammed the bill through Congress on a party-line vote over the objections of the American people and despite plenty of evidence to suggest that ObamaCare wouldn't work. But, committed to their liberal fantasy of successful government-run health care, they ignored all the evidence to the contrary and forced the bill through. The American people are suffering as a result--canceled health care plans, lost doctors and hospitals, higher prices, fewer choices, and reduced access to medications. The list goes on and on.

Last week the fifth annual U.S. Bank Small Business Survey reported that businesses now rank health care as their No. 1 concern. More than 60 percent of them, quoting from the survey, ``now say the long-term impact of the Affordable Care Act will be negative on their business.''

Another article over the weekend reported that ``health insurers are preparing to raise rates next year for plans issued under the Affordable Care Act.''

Still another article from The Hill newspaper on Saturday stated that Democrats in competitive elections generally regard ObamaCare as a four-letter word, with many of their campaign Web sites omitting any reference to the law.

Democrats know ObamaCare has failed, but instead of trying to replace the law, they are just trying to distract with more bad policies that make it even harder to create jobs in this country.

American families are hurting. They need jobs--steady, good-paying jobs. Yet Democrats are ignoring this priority in favor of liberal pet projects that pander to their political base.

There is a clear contrast developing in the Senate: Democrats are offering distractions and Republicans are offering proposals that would spur job creation, increase opportunity, and help middle-class families, proposals such as Senator Hoeven's bill to force approval of the Keystone Pipeline and the 42,000 jobs the President's own State Department says it would support.

There is Senator Collins' proposal to amend the ObamaCare 30-hour workweek provision that is causing employers to cut hours.

We have the proposal from Senators HATCH, TOOMEY, and COATS to repeal ObamaCare's tax on lifesaving medical devices such as pacemakers and insulin pumps--a tax that has already negatively affected tens of thousands of jobs in this industry and stands ready to damage many more.

Then there is Senator Portman's bill to require executive branch agencies to conduct a cost-benefit analysis of new regulations so that fewer burdensome, job-killing regulations emerge from the administration.

There are bills from Senator Lee, Senator McConnell, and Senator Ayotte to give working parents more flexibility in the workplace so that they can make it to more soccer games and more dance recitals while maintaining steady jobs.

Senator Rubio has a bill to amend the National Labor Relations Act to allow employers to give raises to deserving employees.

Then there is my own to help long-term unemployed workers by providing them with a one-time low-interest loan of up to $10,000 to start a new job or to relocate to a State or metropolitan area with lower unemployment.

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