WASHINGTON—The Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC) and working families introduced a resolution today calling for universal child care. The Progressive Caucus resolution, introduced by Rep. Suzanne Bonamici (D-OR), calls for high-quality, guaranteed, affordable and accessible child care for every American family and a strong child care workforce that is paid a living wage of at least $15 an hour and has a voice on the job.
“Affordable, high quality child care is a basic necessity that should be available to every family no matter their income level,” Rep. Grijalva said. “Right now, too many Americans can’t afford or are forced to spend most of their paycheck on child care, leaving little leftover to support basic family necessities. It is time for our country to adopt policies that reflect our values. By making high quality child care available to all, we can allow mothers and fathers to work without worry and to spend the time they need to be dedicated parents.”
"The cost of caring for a child in America keeps rising, while our biggest corporations book bigger and bigger profits,” Rep. Ellison said. “It’s time we pledge no family in the United States faces a future without affordable child care.”
“To build the middle class, we need policies that give all Americans the opportunity to create a better life for their children,” Rep. Bonamici said. “As the cost of child care continues to rise, we need policies that support working families. This resolution recognizes the importance of reliable, quality child care, and it recognizes that family-friendly policies are good for workers and for the economy. I’m proud to be working with the CPC to advocate for affordable and accessible child care.”
The text of the resolution can be found here.
WASHINGTON – Today, Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC) Co-Chairs Reps. Raúl Grijalva (D-AZ) and Keith Ellison (D-MN) joined Financial Services Committee Ranking Member Maxine Waters (D-CA) in calling on the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to finalize the rule requiring publicly-traded corporations to disclose the ratio of the compensation for their CEO to the compensation of their median worker.
The three lawmakers urged completion of the so-called “Median Worker Pay Ratio Rule” via a letter sent today to SEC Chair Mary Jo White. This rule would implement section 953(b) of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, which was enacted more than four years ago.
The letter was signed by 47 Representatives including Reps. Beyer, Boyle, Brownley, Capuano, Chu, Cicilline, Clark, Conyers, DeFazio, DeSaulnier, Edwards, Ellison, Eshoo, Frankel, Garamendi, Grayson, Grijalva, Gutiérrez, Honda, Jackson Lee, Johnson, Kaptur, Langevin, Lawrence, Lee, Lynch, Matsui, McDermott, McGovern, Moore, Norton, Pallone, Plaskett, Pocan, Rangel, Schakowsky, Scott, Smith, Takano, Tonko, Tsongas, Van Hollen, Visclosky, Walz, Watson Coleman, Waters, and Welch.
The text of the letter is below and signed copy can be found here.
Dear Chair White:
We remain disappointed by the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) delay in implementing section 953(b) of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. This section requires publicly-traded companies to disclose the ratio of the compensation of their CEOs to the pay of their median worker. This rule has now been delayed three times, and the Commission continues to solicit more comment on a proposal Congress already told it to complete. In the meantime, Commissioners Luis A. Aguilar and Kara M. Stein have offered their public support for a completed rule. We urge you to do the same, and finalize this Congressionally-mandated rule.
Congress enacted the CEO-to-worker pay ratio disclosure rule in response to public concerns over escalating executive pay and the need for investors and the public to have this information available in an easily understandable format. Finalizing this rule has also never been more needed as income inequality continues to grow. In 2014, a CEO of an S&P 500 company made, on average, $373 for every $1 earned by the typical rank-and-file production worker in the U.S., according to the AFL-CIO’s Executive Paywatch website. While executives make critical decisions about the direction of their companies, investors know that it is the quality employees who ensure those decisions are properly implemented.
The SEC rule must require companies to include all domestic, international, full-time and part-time workers in the calculation of the CEO-to-worker pay ratio. A rule that excludes international and part-time workers would be a clear violation of congressional intent.
In April of last year the Indian Ministry of Corporate Affairs adopted similar pay ratio disclosure regulation for public Indian companies. Indian companies will shortly begin disclosing the ratio in their annual financial statements for the fiscal year that ended March 31, 2015. Investors in American-listed companies should be afforded the same ability to consider whether compensating a CEO hundreds of times what the employees earn is a wise use of their resources.
We strongly oppose waiting until 2016 to finalize this rule, and urge the SEC to complete this rulemaking.
WASHINGTON—Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC) Co-Chairs Reps. Raúl M. Grijalva (D-AZ) and Keith Ellison (D-MN) and 28 of their colleagues introduced the Pay Workers a Living Wage Act today, which raises the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2020. Details on the bill can be found here. A letter signed by over two-hundred economists support of raising the federal minimum wage to $15 can be found here.
“In the year 2015, a job must lift workers out of poverty, not keep them in it. The current federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour is a starvation wage and must be raised to a living wage," said Sen. Bernie Sanders.
“In the richest nation on Earth, full-time work should be compensated with more than a never-ending struggle to make ends meet,” Rep. Grijalva said. “We believe in the dignity of hard work – we should demand the dignity of fair compensation, too. Every American forced to accept less than their worth for labor is an American who cannot contribute fully to our economy, which is why Congress should pass the Pay Workers a Living Wage Act immediately.”
“When I’m on picket lines around the country, people tell me they’re protesting because they’re working harder than ever and still can’t make ends meet,” Rep. Ellison said. “The Progressive Caucus stands in solidarity with the working Americans putting in longer hours and seeing smaller paychecks. In the richest nation in the world, no business should be able to pay so little their workers are forced to find second and third jobs to feed their kids. The Pay Workers a Living Wage Act will raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour and ensure hard work pays in America.”
“Raising the minimum wage to $15 would give at least 25 million hard-working Americans – including six million working moms – a raise, lift as many as six million people out of poverty, and infuse more than $32 billion into our national economy,” Rep. Jackson Lee said. “Raising the minimum wage is the right thing to do.”
“Recent calls for an increase in the minimum wage have been displaced by the increasing cost of living in our country,” Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton said. “Today, $15 an hour is the minimum wage a worker needs in order to make a decent living.”
“The low federal minimum wage amounts to corporate welfare,” Rep. Janice Hahn said. “American taxpayers are subsidizing rich corporations by covering the cost of food stamps and healthcare for underpaid and exploited workers.”
“Raising the minimum wage is good for our workers and our economy,” Rep. Grayson said. “People who earn minimum wage put their earnings back into our economy by buying food, clothes, baby supplies, and other necessities. A higher minimum wage also means fewer people collecting government assistance like food stamps. Almost 60% of minimum wage earners in this country are women. A large percentage of them are single mothers. They deserve a salary that reflects the true costs they face. The American worker is long overdue for a raise. No one who works full time should live in poverty.”
Original Co-sponsors: Reps. Adams (D-WA), Blumenauer (D-OR), Chu (D-CA), Clarke (D-NY), Cohen (D-TN), Conyers (D-MI), Edwards (D-MD), Ellison (D-MN), Farr (D-CA), Hahn (D-CA), Honda (D-CA), Gallego (D-AZ), Grijalva (D-AZ), Jackson-Lee (D-TX), Lee (D-CA), Lewis (D-GA), Lowenthal (D-CA), McDermott (D-WA), Meeks (D-NY), Nadler (D-NY), Norton (D-DC), Pallone (D-NJ), Pocan (D-WI), Rangel (D-NY), Roybal-Allard (D-CA), Schakowsky (D-IL), Takano (D-CA), Van Hollen (D-MD), Velazquez (D-NY), Watson-Coleman (D-NJ).
The Pay Workers a Living Wage Act is supported by Service Employees International Union (SEIU), American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), the Restaurant Opportunities Center, and Communications Workers of America.
