Wages and Benefits

WASHINGTON – As part of legislation to rescue the American economy, the U.S. House of Representatives today approved measures to expand access to affordable health care coverage for workers who lose their jobs as a result of the recession by a vote of 244 to 188. The Congressional Budget Office and Joint Committee on Taxation estimate that the package would help 8.2 million people keep health care coverage for themselves and their families.

Building a Strong, Competitive 21st Century Economy

Nearly two-thirds of Americans obtain health coverage either through their employer or their spouses’ employer. As the unemployment and underemployment rates continue to grow, so will the number of uninsured. Even if these workers get another job, they likely face lower pay, fewer benefits and little access to affordable health care.

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act will assist these workers by providing access to their former employer’s group health plan through enrollment in COBRA coverage beyond the current limit of 18 months. In addition, it will assist recently laid-off workers in receiving affordable COBRA coverage by covering a portion of the monthly premium. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates that this package would help 8.2 million people keep health care coverage for themselves and their families.

WASHINGTON, DC -- In another harsh blow to workers, yesterday evening the Bush administration issued a new regulation that will lower wages and gut labor protections for agricultural guest workers – changes that will drive down the wages and working conditions for all workers. Today, Democratic lawmakers condemned this latest move and vowed to work with President-Elect Obama to undo a slew of damaging rules the Bush administration is trying to rush through in its final days.

“After eight years of disastrous policies that have steamrolled workers and our economy, this President has done enough harm,” said U.S. Rep. George Miller (D-CA), the chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee. “At a time when too many Americans are seeing their jobs and wages slip away, it’s despicable that this is how the Bush administration is spending its final days. I hope the new administration will work with us to quickly overturn this and other last-minute rules that open the door to more abuse in the guest worker programs and threaten the livelihoods of all workers in this country.”

The American economy could slip into a deeper recession unless immediate action is taken to stem the tide of rising unemployment and falling family incomes, witnesses told the Committee in a hearing today.

Ensuring better access to treatment for people suffering from mental illness, the House of Representatives today passed the Paul Wellstone and Pete Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (H.R. 6983) by a vote of 376 to 47.

The House is expected to vote today, September 23, on the Paul Wellstone and Pete Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008. This measure will help ensure better access to treatment for people suffering from mental illness by requiring group health insurance plans that cover mental and addiction health benefits to put those benefits on equal footing with physical ailments.

The House is expected to vote today on the Paycheck Fairness Act. The Committee passed the measure on July 24 to help end the discriminatory practice of paying men and women unequally for performing the same job.  Loopholes created by courts and weak sanctions in the law have allowed many employers to avoid liability for engaging in gender-based pay discrimination. The bill, which was introduced by Rep. Rosa DeLauro, will strengthen the Equal Pay Act and close the loopholes that have allowed employers to avoid responsibility for discriminatory pay.

On Thursday, July 31, the Workforce Protections Subcommittee will hold a hearing on the growing income equality and its effects on the middle class. Stagnant wages have contributed to income inequality. The rapidly rising costs of food and energy have put additional pressures on families already struggling to make ends meet.  Income inequality has been rising since the late 1970’s when the top 1 percent of wage earners earned less than 10 percent of all income. But since then, these top earners have increasingly accounted for a larger portion of the income pie:  By 2006, the top 1 percent earned more than 20 percent of our nation’s wealth.

“The Growing Income Gap in the American Middle Class”
Thursday, July 31, 2008, 10:00 a.m. EDT

Today, the national minimum wage increases by 70 cents, from $5.85 per hour to $6.55 per hour.  I am proud to say that this is the second of three increases due to take effect under the Fair Minimum Wage Act, enacted by this Democratic Congress and signed into law on May 25, 2007.

The increase in the minimum wage comes at an important time for the millions of Americans struggling to make ends meet. Real incomes have dropped since 2001, while the costs of gasoline, health insurance, and attending college have skyrocketed. With today’s increase, Americans who most urgently need a pay raise will get a badly needed boost.

The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), testified at a hearing today that findings from two separate investigations indicate that the U.S. Department of Labor is failing to effectively enforce the nation’s wage and hour laws.  The two investigations found that the Wage and Hour Division of the Labor Department -– the agency responsible for investigating complaints of wage, hour, and child labor violations -– is failing to fully investigate and properly address violations of the law.  The GAO calculated that actions initiated by the Department on wage and hour violations have dropped from approximately 47,000 in 1997 to fewer than 30,000 in 2007.  Also, the use of fines that punish repeat or egregious offenders declined by nearly 50 percent from 2001 to 2007. 

The House Education and Labor Committee held a hearing on Tuesday, July 15 to examine the U.S. Department of Labor's record of enforcing the nation's wage and hour laws. The Government Accountability Office highlighted the results of two separate investigations requested by the chairman of the committee, U.S. Rep. George Miller (D-CA), into the Labor Department’s failures to fully investigate and properly address violations of the law.

Seventy years ago last month, President Franklin Roosevelt signed the landmark Fair Labor Standards Act into law. The law has provided generations of Americans with basic rights to minimum wages, overtime pay, and a ban on oppressive child labor. However, critics say that the Bush administration has failed to protect workers from a growing problem of "wage theft" by adopting weak approaches to enforcement and reducing funding and staffing levels of the Wage and Hour Division, the agency responsible for investigating complaints of wage, hour, and child labor violations.

The Committee will hold a hearing on Tuesday, July 15 to examine the U.S. Department of Labor’s record of enforcing the nation’s wage and hour laws. The Government Accountability Office will highlight the results of two separate investigations requested by Chairman George Miller into the Labor Department’s failures to fully investigate and properly address violations of the law. Seventy years ago last month, President Franklin Roosevelt signed the landmark Fair Labor Standards Act into law. The law has provided generations of Americans with basic rights to minimum wages, overtime pay, and a ban on oppressive child labor. However, critics say that the Bush administration has failed to protect workers from a growing problem of “wage theft” by adopting weak approaches to enforcement and reducing funding and staffing levels of the Wage and Hour Division, the agency responsible for investigating complaints of wage, hour, and child labor violations.