Giffords Calls on Congress to Stop Playing Politics with the Minimum Wage
Congressional Candidate Calls for a Straight Up-or-Down Vote on Raising the Minimum Wage
TUCSON - Congressional candidate Gabrielle Giffords called on Congress today to stop playing politics with the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of Arizona’s poorest workers and immediately convene a straight up-or-down vote on raising the minimum wage for the first time in a decade.
“This is another example of why we need a new direction in Washington,” Giffords said. “For ten years, Congress has refused to raise the minimum wage — while giving themselves more than $30,000 in pay raises. But on Friday, in the dark of night, Congress played politics with hundreds of thousands of Arizona’s poorest citizens by attaching a fiscally irresponsible tax giveaway to multimillionaires as part of a bill that would only gradually increase the minimum wage. This estate tax giveaway would raise the budget deficit by $309 billion over ten years — on top of the massive debt that this administration has created for our children and grandchildren to pay off.
“The 145,000 Arizonans who would get a raise with a minimum wage increase deserve better — half of whom are working women struggling to live on less than $11,000 per year, and 70% of whom are adults,” she said. “But only the wealthiest three-tenths of one percent of households in America would benefit from this irresponsible tax giveaway, at the expense of another huge increase in the federal budget deficit.
“The only way to ensure that a minimum wage increase becomes law is to allow a straight up-or-down vote on H.R. 2429, the Fair Minimum Wage Act,” Giffords said. “Congress voted itself a pay raise in June on a straight up-or-down vote, and the working people of this country should be given the same opportunity.” Giffords also noted that Arizonans can also take the lead on this issue by voting for the “Raise the Minimum Wage for Arizonans Act” this fall when they cast their ballots.
“We need a new direction in Washington, which raises the minimum wage and brings economic opportunity and security to all Americans, not just the privileged few,” Giffords said. “I believe that Arizonans understand the importance of a good paying job, and raising the minimum wage will be a personal priority in Congress.”
Gabrielle Giffords has a history of fighting for working people. In the Arizona Senate, she co-sponsored a bill to raise the minimum wage (SCR 1037, 2005). She has also promoted the current Arizona ballot initiative, the “Raise the Minimum Wage for Arizonans Act,” by having her campaign circulate petitions and collect signatures across Southern Arizona to get this initiative on the ballot.
Giffords has been endorsed by a large coalition of working people, including:
- AFL-CIO
- AFSCME - American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees
- Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen
- International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers
- Associated Highway Patrolmen of Arizona
- United Brotherhood of Carpenters of America (Southwest Regional Council)
- United Food and Commercial Workers Union, Local 99
- United Brotherhood of Teamsters, Local 104
- Arizona Police Association
- Arizona Education Association
- Professional Fire Fighters of Arizona
- Arizona Conference of Police and Sheriffs (AZCOPS), Local 7077
- Tucson Fire Fighters Association, Local 479
- Arizona State Council of Machinists and Aerospace Workers
- National Education Association
