The House of Representative’s decision to pass a bill raising the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour received almost immediate criticism from major business organizations.
The groups say the bill, which the Democrat-controlled chamber passed in a 231-199 vote, would be expensive and lead to increased unemployment.
“The House dealt a devastating blow to small businesses today, risking record growth, job creation, and already increasing wages,” Juanita Dugganin, president and CEO of the National Federation of Independent Businesses, said in a statement. The NFIB is the leading advocacy organization for small businesses.
A representative for the restaurant industry also criticized the bill.
“Thousands of restaurant industry employees, leaders and community members have called and emailed Congress to share their concerns about how H.R. 582 would cripple small- and family-owned businesses,” National Restaurant Association spokesperson Sean Kennedy said in a statement. “H.R. 582 is the wrong wage at the wrong time, implemented in the wrong way.”
Kennedy called instead for “a commonsense approach to minimum wage.”
The National Retail Federation likewise emphasized the bill’s potential consequences.
“This unprecedented proposal to increase the minimum wage by 107% is a one-size-fits all approach that would lead to unintended consequences for American workers and the businesses that employ them,” David French, senior vice president of government relations at the NRF, said.
The National Association of Manufacturers also expressed its opposition to the minimum wage increase in a letter to the House before the vote.
“H.R. 582 creates new economic headwinds for manufacturers—ignoring the sector’s investments in skills training, competitive compensation, and generous benefits—all at the expense of millions of American workers,” Patrick Hedren, the association’s vice president for labor, legal and regulatory policy, said.
The NFIB’s Dugganin encouraged the Senate to kill the bill. Indeed, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is unlikely to bring up the legislation in his chamber. The White House pledged that President Donald Trump would veto it if it made it to his desk.
Increasing the minimum wage to $15 has been a major topic of discussion in the 2020 presidential race, with many Democratic candidates backing the proposal, and will likely remain prominent in the campaign even if the Senate declines to take up the bill as expected.
Source Article from https://www.cnbc.com/2019/07/18/business-groups-slam-house-for-passing-15-minimum-wage-bill.html
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