Rep. Lisa McClain, R-Mich., says a $15 federal minimum wage increase would be detrimental to business owners.
"This policy is horrible; it is a bumper sticker pipe dream that never works," McClain told Newsmax TV's "Spicer & Co." on Monday. "What it's going to lead to is more unemployment, it's going to lead to people not hiring.
"Businesses are already strangled by the COVID policy. A lot of restaurateurs are at 25% and now we are going to overlay and tell them, 'You can only run your business at 25%, and you have to pay your employees more.'
"Those policies don't work. That disincentivizes people to hire more people, and with the 7% unemployment rate, I don't understand how that makes sense as an employer, as a business owner, at all."
McClain also said Amazon, which is advocating for the increase, should not try to dictate what the mom-and-pop shops need to pay their employees.
"Let the free market play out," she said. "If Amazon wants to pay their employees $15 an hour, $20 an hour, then let them do that. But don't dictate what the mom-and-pop shop needs to pay their employees. Let the free market dictate, not the government. That's not our job."
House Democrats on Monday released the first draft text for key pieces of legislation that will comprise President Joe Biden's COVID-19 relief bill, which includes plans to increase the minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2025.
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