DENVER – State Rep. J. Paul Brown on Monday said raising the minimum wage in Colorado would violate the principles of America.
The Ignacio Republican made his comments from the floor of the House, where the Democratic-controlled chamber gave initial approval to asking voters to gradually raise the minimum wage from $8.23 to $12.50 per hour by 2020.
“This goes against the principles that this country was founded on – freedom,” Brown addressed his colleagues.
The comment drew the outrage of liberal observers, who said Brown was out-of-touch with the desires of Coloradans.
“There’s always room to debate policy. But suggesting that people wanting a fair shot at the American Dream as somehow being un-American is the kind of out-of-touch grandstanding we’ve come to associate with J. Paul Brown,” said Amy Runyon-Harms, executive director of the left-leaning organization ProgressNow Colorado.
Brown was speaking to similar points made by other Republicans, who said the free market should dictate wages.
“What we need to do is let the market of competition for jobs dictate those wages,” Brown said. “It has been shown that wages are higher in certain areas; entry-level wages are higher – and that is because the market works.”
The House gave initial approval to two minimum-wage measures Monday. In addition to asking voters to raise the wage, Democrats also would like to repeal a 1999 law that gave the state control over minimum-wage issues. The legislation would allow local governments to establish minimum wages commensurate with the local cost of living.
Both measures are likely to die in the Republican-controlled Senate. It would take a two-thirds vote of the Legislature to send the ballot question to voters.
“We’re giving you two bites of the apple to support low-wage workers,” said Dominick Moreno, D-Commerce City, a co-sponsor of the bills. “This is about making sure that everyone in Colorado makes a living wage.”
A full-time, minimum-wage worker in Colorado earns only $17,118 a year. There is an estimated 600,000 Coloradans making less than $12 per hour in the state.
Republicans and business leaders worry that a patchwork of wages would lead to an uncertain business climate. They say many of those low-wage jobs are held by very young workers in entry-level positions. Mandating a higher wage would squeeze people out of those jobs and have a trickle effect, where employers would have to raise wages across the board, leading to layoffs.
“That makes Colorado not look quite as attractive anymore because we never know, from time-to-time, what the minimum wage is going to be,” said House Minority Leader Brian DelGrosso of Loveland.