News Intelligence Analysis
The President's Gulf Coast Wage Cut
By Rep. George Miller (D-CA)
From: TPMCafe Special Guests
The President suspended wage standards for workers on the Gulf
Coast before he declared a national emergency. That means he
was so focused on cutting the wages of people who'd be returning
to the Gulf Coast to rebuild their lives and their communities
that, in order to hasten the suspension, he failed to follow
the law. And at the same time the White House was cutting workers'
wages, it was busy awarding no-bid contracts. The President has
proven once again that he's more interested in governing for
the few than in governing for all of us.
The President's pay cut affects tens of thousands, or even hundreds
of thousands, of Americans who desperately need a decent income
to rebuild their lives. People working construction jobs in the
Gulf Coast might only have earned $7 or $8 in the first place;
now, the only protection left for them is the federal minimum
wage, which is a disgraceful $5.15 an hour because Republicans
repeatedly refuse to increase it.
What the President has done is immoral.
Sep 16, 2005 -- 08:06:51 PM EST
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