Obama Triggers A Full Republican Freak Out By Raising Wages For 4.2 Million Workers

Last updated on July 17th, 2023 at 06:59 pm

President Obama has triggered a full-blown meltdown by finalizing a rule that requires 4.2 million workers to be paid the overtime pay that they earn.

Speaker of the House Paul Ryan said, “This regulation hurts the very people it alleges to help. Who is hurt most? Students, non-profit employees, and people starting a new career. By mandating overtime pay at a much higher salary threshold, many small businesses and non-profits will simply be unable to afford skilled workers and be forced to eliminate salaried positions, complete with benefits, altogether. For the sake of his own political legacy, President Obama is rushing through regulations—like the overtime rule—that will cause people to lose their livelihoods. We are committed to fighting this rule and the many others that would be an absolute disaster for our economy.”

Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) said, “The Obama Administration’s new overtime rule will have swift and damaging impacts on hard working American families, as well as small businesses, non-profits and colleges and universities. This president and his administration continue to disregard the full economic realities of their policies, and their lack of foresight is clearly evident in the final overtime rule. Our nation’s economy, which is still struggling to recover, simply cannot afford to have the Obama administration continue to implement more damaging rules and regulations. Bureaucrats in Washington cannot create jobs, but they certainly can destroy them.”

To get more stories like this, subscribe to our newsletter The Daily.

Rep. Steve Chabot (R-OH) chair of the House Small Business Committee, said, “Yet again, President Obama has chosen to ignore desperate pleas from millions of America’s small businesses and whack them with a new regulation that will result in job losses, demotions, less flexibility, lower wages, and reduced benefits for their workers. I find it particularly insulting that the Obama Administration chose to unroll this new spool of job-killing government red tape in my home state of Ohio. Small businesses in our state have been a success story and this new rule threatens that success. America’s small businesses do not want this rule and once again they will be hit worst and first to pay for Obama’s liberal legacy.”

The truth is that there is nothing that Republicans in Congress can do about the new rule. They have already pulled the old anything that increases wages for workers kills jobs argument out of mothballs, but this argument has been debunked by dozens of major studies. If Hillary Clinton wins the election in November, she certainly will not get rid of the rule.

The Republican Party’s only hope for making life worse for millions of workers is that Donald Trump wins the White House. President Trump wants to go beyond taking overtime pay away from millions of underpaid workers. Trump thinks wages are too high and wants to get rid of the minimum wage.

Republicans knew that the rule change was coming, and now that it is here, all that they can do is scream the sky is falling. The reality behind the GOP’s latest greatest freak out is that they don’t want America’s workers to do better, and they are firmly opposed to workers earning a living wage.

Jason Easley

Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.

Awards and  Professional Memberships

Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association