George Miller is a senior member of Congress from California’s 11th district who announced his plans to retire at the end of his current term after more than forty years in office. He recently spoke with BPR’s Sarah Sachs.
Brown Political Review: At the end of an illustrious political career, what piece of legislation are you most proud of?
George Miller: I have two favorites. One was the Education for All Handicapped Children Act, passed at the very beginning of my 40 years in Congress. Today it’s known as the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). It required that children with disabilities and handicaps no longer be segregated from mainstream public schools. The second was when President Obama signed the Affordable Care Act at the end of my term; I first ran for office in 1974 on a platform of ending the war in Vietnam and passing a national healthcare plan.
BPR: Is there any particular vote you would do differently if given the chance?
GM: The authorization to use force in Afghanistan after 9/11. President Bush told us at the time that this authorization was necessary to deal with the people who perpetrated Osama Bin Laden’s attacks. But instead it was used to expand the wars in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq. That was a bad vote.
BPR: You introduced a bill in Congress last March to raise the minimum wage to $10.10. Even conservative cable news anchor Bill O’Reilly supports the increase, and some polls indicate that a majority of Republican voters favor it. Majority Leader Eric Cantor asserted that “Democrats can’t be taken seriously” on the issue of the minimum wage. What’s causing the divide between Republican members of Congress and the greater Republican Party?
GM: The divide is caused by the fact that minimum wage workers, to most Republican members of Congress, are simply invisible. Republican Congressmen don’t understand how unfair it is that people go to work all day long and still end up with a sub-poverty wage. People like Bill O’Reilly and Ronald Unz from California — both staunch conservatives — recognize [how] taxpayer safety net programs like food stamps, housing allowances and health care supplement those low wages. In many cases, the public picks up the cost for employers who simply don’t want to pay livable wages. Eighty percent of these workers are women, and many of them have children. They are working for wages at the 1968 level. They deserve a raise. It’s a question of fairness. The Republicans are pretty indifferent to these problems.
BPR: Do you think that the bill raising the minimum wage will pass in the House eventually?
GM: I think eventually it’s going to pass, because it’s widely supported among Democrats and Republicans in every region of the country. People understand that it’s impossible to live on $7.25 an hour and go to work every day.
BPR: Are there any concessions in the bill that you think would have to be made in order to get people like Eric Cantor to come around to your side?
GM: I’m not sure I’ll ever get Eric Cantor on this bill, but I know that there are other Republicans who have already indicated that [they would] vote on this. We’ll see. Before this year’s Congress is over and before the elections, I think that we’re going to have a vote on the minimum wage. I think we’ll win just like we did [when we increased it] in 2007 with Senator Kennedy.
BPR: The Washington Post recently quoted you as saying that Ted Kennedy, who was renowned for his compromising legislative style, wouldn’t recognize today’s legislative process. What are some of the changes that you have seen in Congress, and why do you think they are happening?
GM: The big change is the unwillingness of the Republican Party to work with Democrats on a whole range of issues. They refuse to engage in the process of give and take that’s necessary to solve the problems that this nation has, and to make investments that the nation needs — whether that’s institutions of higher education, research centers, physical infrastructure, roads or highways. They don’t have enough confidence in this country to reinvest in America. That makes it very difficult, and very different than when Senator Kennedy was here and from most of my previous time in Congress.
BPR: In the coming midterm elections, what is the most compelling argument for the Democratic majority?
GM: Democrats really offer economic security. The Affordable Care Act provides economic security. The number one cause of bankruptcy is out of control medical expenses. I think that the idea of reinvesting in America facilitates the stability and growth of the economy. And the concerns about low wage workers— about women getting equal pay, about women’s advancement in the workplace—really emphasize the question of fairness in our society. Those issues are continuing to grow in this very difficult economy. The Republicans are basically saying it’s just a Darwinian world, and that’s the way it is. They say the government shouldn’t do anything to make sure that women get equal pay for equal work, to increase the minimum wage, to make healthcare available to families who need it but can’t afford it and to prevent companies from excluding people because of pre-existing conditions. They have a narrow, corporate view of the world that only takes care of those who already don’t need any help. Millions of families across this country are having great difficulty working every day. The economic security that the health care bill provides to these families is really dramatic.
BPR: What are your plans for retirement? Will we be seeing you in other roles?
GM: I hope so. I really want to be able to follow my passions, namely concerns about children, how they thrive and succeed in America, their education, health and family lives. This has been a passion of mine for my whole adult public life. I am also deeply concerned about the environment and the rights of people to organize in the workplace. I don’t know the mechanism yet, but these are the issues that make me go every day.