{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://yarmuth.house.gov/press/rep-yarmuth-calls-for-federal-minimum-wage-increase/", "Rep. Yarmuth Calls for Federal Minimum Wage Increase", "2014-03-26", "2014", "2014-03", "Democrat", "House", "KY", "John Yarmuth", "Y000062", "yarmuth.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "WASHINGTON  In a speech on the House floor this afternoon, Congressman John Yarmuth (KY-3) called for an increase in the federal minimum wage to help struggling families and grow our economy.\r\n\r\n\tYarmuth is a cosponsor of H.R. 1010, the Fair Minimum Wage Act, which would raise the minimum wage to $10.10 per hour incrementally over three years. He also signed a discharge petition in February to force a vote on the bill in the House. To date, House Leadership has refused to allow a vote on federal minimum wage legislation.\r\n\r\n\r\n\tClick here to watch video of Congressman Yarmuth's remarks.\r\n\r\n\tFull text:\r\n\r\n\t\r\n\r\n\tMadam Speaker, during the past 40 years, we have made tremendous progress in America  technologically, medically, socially, and  for many of our citizens  economically. But not if you're a family trying to get by on the minimum wage.\r\n\r\n\tIn real value, today's federal minimum wage is about 30 percent below the days when President Ford pardoned Richard Nixon and Cannonade won the Kentucky Derby.\r\n\r\n\tAs American productivity has surged, the economic status of the American worker has weakened  and along with it, the capacity of American consumers to continue driving our economy.\r\n\r\n\tEven Walmart executives have admitted an obvious cause-and-effect: When their employees can't afford to shop in their stores, their profits will suffer.\r\n\r\n\tMadam Speaker, a fair minimum wage has the power to make work pay a little better, to give families a shot at a stronger future, and to grow our economy substantially.\r\n\r\n\tIt is a corrective to obscene corporate welfare whereby American taxpayers must support low-wage workers when their employers don't.\r\n\r\n\tAnd it reaffirms the basic American idea that if you put in 40 hours a week, you should be able to put food on your family's table every day.", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://yarmuth.house.gov/press/rep-yarmuth-calls-for-federal-minimum-wage-increase/"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.9427421502768993, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}