Rep. George Miller, l., accepts the 2007 Legislator of the Year award from IVP Tom Baca.
Chair of Labor Committee blames economic problems on Iraq War
REP. GEORGE MILLER, a member of the U.S. House Democratic leadership, received the LEAP Legislator of the Year (LOY) award at the 40th annual conference held April 20-25. First elected to the House in 1974, Miller represents California’s 7th District, which includes the East Bay area of San Francisco.
Miller serves as chairman of the House Committee on Education and Labor, a panel that is especially important to unions because it oversees the Department of Labor. Among his recent achievements is H.R. 2, a bill to increase the minimum wage from $5.25 an hour to $7.25 an hour. The bill was one of the first to be passed by the new Democrat-led House. The increase became law in May 2007.
Upon receiving the LOY award, Miller spoke to the LEAP conference about the efforts of the House Democratic Caucus to change national priorities. A vocal opponent of the war in Iraq, Miller said the conflict would cost $5 trillion before it ends. He added that funding for the war has to be borrowed, and the debt has led the United States into its current economic troubles.
Miller emphasized that the Democrat-led House has made progress for working families despite having “a Republican in the White House” and only a narrow Democratic lead in the Senate. “I think we’ve done a remarkable job over the last 15 months. We put $20 billion into college loans to cut interest rates in half. And we didn’t take it from the taxpayer. We took it from subsidies the Republicans [had given] to the banks of this country to make student loans.”
Another key achievement, he said, is a new energy bill passed last year. “After 30 years, we finally raised the mileage standards. We broke the chokehold of the automobile companies on this Congress.”
Miller chided Bush-appointed Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao. “From my perspective, we have been without a secretary of labor for eight years. This is the worst secretary of labor we’ve ever had. He said the DOL has failed to enforce the laws regarding job safety but that his committee is going after employers with unsafe work sites. Congress has passed several key mine safety laws recently, he added.
The difficulty that unions face in organizing due to employer harassment and intimidation is a top priority for the Democratic Caucus, Miller noted. Looking ahead to the 2008 elections, he said that should the Democrats win the White House, maintain their majority in the House, and win a working majority in the Senate, the Employee Free Choice Act “would be the first [piece of legislation] out of the chute.”
Miller praised House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who earlier this year “surprised” Pres. Bush by refusing to bring up the Colombian Free Trade Agreement for a vote. “We want to know what [Bush] is going to do for this country, its families, and its workers first. Then we can talk about what we’re going to do in Colombia. That’s the kind of change we need in this country.”
