How they voted: Lehigh Valley lawmakers back $15 minimum wage

Democratic members of Congress serving the Lehigh Valley and Warren County voted this past week to boost the federal minimum wage to $15, over six years.

The U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday passed the "Raise the Wage Act," House Resolution 582, by a vote of 231-199.

It has little chance of passing the Republican-led Senate, or being signed into law by President Donald Trump. But the outcome pushes the phased-in rate to the forefront as the new standard, one already in place at some leading U.S. corporations. It also transforms an issue that once splintered the party into a benchmark for the 2020 election.

Voting in favor were U.S. Reps. Susan Wild, who represents Lehigh, Northampton and southern Monroe counties in Pennsylvania's 7th Congressional Districts, and the congressmen covering Warren County, U.S. Reps. Tom Malinowski in New Jersey's 7th District and Josh Gottheimer in the 5th District. All three are Democrats.

An independent economic analysis shows the bill would increase pay for up to 33 million low-wage American workers, including nearly 98,400 workers in Pennsylvania's 7th District, according to a news release from Wild's office. The last increase in the federal minimum occurred 10 years ago, the longest stretch without an adjustment since the wage floor was first enacted during the 1930s. The wage protection covers millions of low-wage workers in all types of jobs.

"No one working full-time in American should be living in poverty," Wild said in a statement. "While corporations are making record profits off the backs of workers – wage stagnation and increased cost of living have bankrupted hard-working families throughout the Greater Lehigh Valley. Our workers deserve better.

"This bill recognizes the dignity of our workers and is a firm commitment to giving them a fair chance to lift themselves and their families out of poverty, to fight the record income and wealth inequality across our country, and to get to work building an economy that delivers for all Americans."

Pennsylvania's minimum wage is stuck at $7.25 an hour after Gov. Tom Wolf's call for a $12 minimum wage failed to woo the Republican-controlled Legislature this year. New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, a Democrat like Wolf, signed legislation last month raising the state minimum wage $1.15 to $10 an hour followed by an additional $1 to $11 on Jan. 1, 2020.

"It's a disgrace that in our country a person can work over 40 hours a week and still be living below the poverty line and unable to pay for basic essentials," Malinowski said in a statement. "New Jersey has already acted, and it is past time for the rest of the nation to follow."

Nearly 70,000 workers in New Jersey's 7th District alone would benefit from the federal hike to $15 by 2024, as outlined in the House bill.

A hike in the federal $7.25 hourly wage has been a top Democratic campaign promise, and what Majority Leader Steny Hoyer of Maryland called Thursday the "right thing to do."

"America's workers deserve a raise," said Speaker Nancy Pelosi at a press conference with labor leaders and employees ahead of voting. Lifting a young girl into her arms, Pelosi said, "This is what it's all about. ... It's about family."

Under the House bill, for the first time, tipped workers would be required to be paid the same as others earning the minimum, boosting their pay to $15 an hour, too. It's now $2.13, in what labor scholars call a jarring remnant from the legacy of slavery, when newly freed workers received only tips.

Republicans in the House balked at the wage hike, which would be the first since Democrats last controlled the majority. Just three Republicans joined most Democrats in passage, including U.S. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick in Pennsylvania's 1st Congressional District that includes parts of Bucks and Montgomery counties.

Republicans have long maintained that states and municipalities are already able to raise the wage beyond the federal minimum, and many have done so. They warn higher wages will cost jobs, especially among smaller business owners.

While opponents have long said higher minimum wages lead to job losses, economists say new studies are casting doubt on those long-held theories.

A report from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office sent mixed messages. It said more than 30 million workers would see bigger paychecks with a higher wage, lifting more than 1 million workers from poverty. It also said between 1 million and 3 million jobs could be lost.

Passage in the House was assured only after centrist Democrats won adjustments to the bill. Reluctant to embrace the party's left flank, they pushed for changes, including a slower six-year phase-in of the wage. It's a reminder of moderates' influence on policy, but also the limits.