Labor
Working for the Men and Women of Alaska

I have always supported the American worker and America's great workforce -Alaskans should be paid a fair wage for a day's work. The ability to trade freely with our allies has created an economy which is consumer friendly and stable. Reducing tariffs has improved agricultural trade for American farmers and encouraged continual technological innovation in the United States.

I believe in producing results instead of promises. Here are just a few of the things which I have been working on as your Representative in Congress.

Minimum Wage
I believe that Alaskans deserve to be paid a decent hourly wage. However, increasing the minimum wage too rapidly can actually have a negative affect and reduce the demand for workers. If the minimum wage is set at an amount higher than what the community can support, it raises the costs for small business owners above what they can financially handle. They would then be forced to let employees go and as a result, unemployment would increase. The bills below illustrate how a balance between the two can be achieved.

Bills Passed by the House and Voted For

H.R. 2 - Fair Minimum Wage Act
This bill increases the federal minimum wage from $5.15 to $7.25 in three steps over a period of twenty-six months. The first increase occurred on June 24, 2007, bringing the national minimum wage to $5.85. Since Alaska's minimum wage is already at $7.15, Alaskans will remain at this level until June 24, 2009 unless the state legislature passes HB 42 which sets Alaska's minimum wage at the higher amount of $8 an hour with annual inflation adjustments or $1 above the federal minimum wage.

H.R. 976 - Small Business Tax Relief Act
This bill provides tax relief for small businesses. These provisions were ultimately included in the final version of H.R. 2206 to provide help to small businesses who may be negatively impacted by the increase in the minimum wage.

H.R. 980 - Public Safety Employer-Employee Cooperation Act
This bill provides collective bargaining rights for public safety officers employed by states.

Bills Cosponsored

H.R. 1125 - Freedom to Fly Act
This bill increases the mandatory retirement age for commercial pilots from 60 to 65.

H.R. 1644 - Re-Empowerment of Skilled and Professional Employees and Construction Tradeworkers (Respect) Act
This bill amends the National Labor Relations Act to clarify the definition of "supervisor" thereby limiting the ability of employers to take away union protections.

H.R. 1748 - Workforce Health Improvement Program Act
This bill expands workplace health incentives by allowing employers a tax deduction of no more than $900 per employee per year for fees, dues, or membership expenses paid to an athletic or fitness facility on behalf of their employees.

H.R. 2021 - Right Start Child Care and Education Act
This bill increases the credit for employers establishing workplace child care facilities, to increase the child care credit to encourage greater use of quality child care services, and to provide incentives for students to earn child care-related degrees and to work in child care facilities.