VIRGINIA REP. SCOTT: TIME TO RAISE FEDERAL MINIMUM WAGE

Chairman Bobby Scott (VA-03) issued the following statement after the Bureau of Labor Statistics announced that the economy added 145,000 jobs in December with the unemployment rate at 3.5 percent.

“Today’s jobs report shows that despite 111 straight months of private-sector job growth, many workers are still not seeing the benefits of the growing economy. As we mark the two-year anniversary of Republicans’ almost $2 trillion tax scheme – in which 80 percent of the benefits went to the wealthiest 1 percent and corporations – working families have seen little or none of the $4,000 increase President Trump promised them. Notably, job growth in the first three years under President Trump continues to lag behind job growth in the final three years under President Obama.

“We must take bold and immediate action to ensure workers are getting a fair share of the profits they produce. Six months ago, the House of Representatives passed the Raise the Wage Act, which would gradually increase the federal minimum wage to $15 by 2025—giving up to 33 million Americans a raise and lifting 1.3 million people out of poverty.

“After more than a decade without an increase in the federal minimum wage, there is now no place in America where a full-time worker making the federal minimum wage can afford the basic essentials. But Senate Republicans are still refusing to even consider that bill.

“This year, even as more than 20 states move to raise the minimum wage, workers in many other parts of the country will continue to be left behind. Rather than denying hardworking people a decent wage, the Senate should pass the Raise the Wage Act and restore the value of work in our economy.”