Statement by AFL-CIO President John Sweeney
on Senate Rejection of "Clean" Minimum Wage Bill
January 24, 2007

It's time Congress stopped playing politics with the lives of our nation's low-wage workers. The mostly Republican opposition in the Senate to a "clean" minimum wage bill is an affront to our nation's low-wage workers.   It's just plain wrong to ask these working families to wait even longer to receive a minimum wage increase while many of our nation's leaders shower big business with additional tax perks.

The American people are nearly unanimous in their support of a minimum wage  increase and a majority in both houses of Congress are now on record in  support of a raise.  It's time to get it done. There are 13 million minimum  wage workers who desperately need an additional $2.10 per hour to help provide for themselves and their families.

Today's vote was special-interest politics at it's worst.  Forty-three Senators buckled to pressure from business, and in the process, put the brakes on a raise working people need today. 

Corporations have already received $276 billion in tax breaks in the 10 years since the minimum wage was last hiked.  The minimum wage needs to be raised to $7.25 an hour, without additional giveaways for business or further delay.

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 Statement by AFL-CIO President John Sweeney
on President Bush's Health Care Proposal
January 24, 2007

President Bush is touring the nation, touting a health care proposal that  only pretends to address our nation's health care crisis, and actually would  make it worse. 

The President's proposal to make workers pay taxes on health benefits in order to pay for a new standard deduction will prompt employers to shift more costs onto workers or eliminate coverage altogether. 

At the same time, a tax- based approach to helping the uninsured doesn't  work because many of the uninsured have too little income to buy health  coverage on their own.   They also won't benefit from a deduction because they owe little or no taxes.

At a time when most Americans are struggling to pay for rising health care costs, the employer-based system is the last line of defense for working  people.  Two of every three Americans receive health insurance through their employer.  Without a meaningful, comprehensive alternative, the shift from  employer to individual responsibility will exacerbate the nation's health care crisis and actually increase the number of uninsured and underinsured.

Under the President's plan, younger and healthier workers would have more incentives to buy low-cost, bare-bones plans, leading to higher costs for older and less healthy workers who stay in more comprehensive coverage.  And  those more costly workers who remain in comprehensive plans take a double hit, since the arbitrary threshold means they'll pay more in taxes, too. 

America is the richest, most prosperous nation on earth.  It's a national disgrace that nearly 47 million Americans lack health insurance and millions more struggle to hold onto their coverage. 

We need universal health coverage to ensure that every American has the  security of knowing they can get affordable health care when they need it. 

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