Congressman Andrew Garbarino raises concern about minimum wage law
Today I stood up for Long Island small business owners during the House Small Business Committee’s “Perspectives from Main Street: Raising the Wage” hearing. According to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, the Democrats’ Raise the Wage Act of 2021 would eliminate up to 2.7 million jobs, place an increased crippling burden on small businesses and weaken our national economy further during the COVID-19 pandemic.
After dealing with the devastating effects of New York’s mandatory minimum wage hikes, I’ve heard from Long Island small business owners who are fearful of the damaging blows the Raise the Wage Act would deliver to their businesses. The last thing our economy needs during a pandemic is the Democrats’ job-killing minimum wage hike, which would put a crippling burden on the Long Island small business community.
Last week, Gianni Cracchiolo of New York’s Sal & Jerry’s bakery gave testimony to the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs on how New York State’s mandatory minimum wage hikes and overregulation forced him to close his bakery in Brooklyn.
“Minimum wage hikes and other state and federal regulations acted as a silent killer that slowly chipped away at revenue and caused our bakery in Brooklyn to perish,” said Cracchiolo. “COVID 19 and the ensuing lockdowns were not the main cause of our closure but were the straw that broke the camel’s back. Coronavirus should not be used as the scapegoat by policymakers to further ignore the fact that small businesses are vanishing in this country due to government regulations making it difficult to succeed.”
Unfortunately, Mr. Cracchiolo’s story is not uncommon for small business and restaurant owners in New York, and only further demonstrates what a crushing blow a federally mandated minimum wage hike would deliver to small businesses across the country. As a third-generation small business owner and proud member of the House Small Business Committee, I will continue to fight for our small businesses on Main Street.
I have submitted Mr Cracchiolo’s testimony from the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs for the record during the House Small Business Committee hearing on Wed., Feb. 24. Gianni Cracchiolo’s full testimony can be watched at: shorturl.at/afwEH.