{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["http://roby.house.gov/press-release/roby-decision-overtime-rule-victory-states-businesses", "Roby: Decision on Overtime Rule a Victory for States, Businesses", "2016-11-23", "2016", "2016-11", "Republican", "House", "AL", "Martha Roby", "R000591", "roby.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "WASHINGTON, D.C. \u2013 U.S. Representative Martha Roby (R-Ala.) today released a statement in response to a decision by Judge Amos L. Mazzant III, a U.S. District Judge in the Eastern District of Texas, to block the Department of Labor\u2019s overtime rule, which was set to be implemented on December 1:  \n\t\u00a0  \n\t\u201cThis decision is a conservative victory for the 21 states and dozens of business groups who challenged that this new rule handed down by President Obama\u2019s Department of Labor would increase government costs while costing private employers millions of dollars.  \n\t\u00a0  \n\t\"We all want incomes to rise, but top-down government mandates that ultimately cost workers are not the way to make it happen. We need 21st century workforce policies that offer workers choices and flexibility, and we need to enact them properly through Congress. I'm pleased that the courts have once again rejected the Obama Administration's attempt to circumvent Congress and legislate by executive fiat. This decision and others like it will help return our country to constitutional order.\"  \n\t\u00a0  \n\tThe rule, championed by President Obama\u2019s Department of Labor, would raise the salary threshold for workers to qualify as exempt from overtime pay requirements from $455 to $913 per week \u2013 from $23,660 to $47,476 per year \u2013 while increasing the current minimum salary requirements for employees exempt from overtime pay under the \u201chighly-compensated\u201d exemption from $100,000 to $134,004 per year.  \n\t\u00a0  \n\tAccording to a report by the American Enterprise Institute, if implemented, the rule was predicted to cost the economy and hurt workers by cutting hours, further adding to the problem of underemployment without doing much to improve pay for low and middle income workers.", 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": ["http://roby.house.gov/press-release/roby-decision-overtime-rule-victory-states-businesses"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.9660699181258678, "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"}