Congressman Al Green from Houston, Texas is sponsoring a bill to raise the minimum wage to a level that will allow a family of two to live above the poverty line. H.R. 3041, the Living American Wage (LAW) Act, would link the minimum wage to 15 percent over the federal poverty threshold for a family of two. Every four years, the minimum wage would be increased for inflation. Using the current poverty threshold the LAW Act would raise the minimum wage to $8.20 per hour.

The current minimum wage was just set at $7.25 per hour. This equates to $15,080 per year. The 2008 poverty threshold for a worker with one child was $14,840 per year. The LAW Act would guarantee that a person willing to work full-time could live above the poverty line, not on the brink of poverty.

Former President Bill Clinton crippled the welfare system and created the working poor. A working couple should be able to afford to put a roof over their heads if they are willing to work full-time. But with the current minimum wage, two adults working full-time earn less than what is needed to afford a one-bedroom apartment. Through the LAW Act, two working adults would be able to afford the average rent for a one-bedroom apartment.

More than 37 million Americans today live in poverty. Many of them work full-time. A full-time job should enable them to lift themselves out of poverty. Even with the current increase in the minimum wage, it is not enough to keep up with inflation and just puts people at or below the poverty line.

I get tired of hearing people complain about “those people on welfare” who aren’t willing to work. The fact of the matter is that many people on welfare do work and others don’t because they can’t make enough to put food on the table and a roof over their heads if they did. If you have children, then working two jobs isn’t an option because you can’t afford to pay for child care.

The American dream used to be one spouse working a 40-hour-a-week job and the other raising the kids. They had a home, health care and a free education. That dream has now become both parents working with the children being raised by strangers, an underfunded educational system and unavailable or overpriced health care. If we really want to support family values, we need to support living wages.

If you want to support the LAW Act contact Congressman Green at (202) 225-7508. If people are willing to work, they should be able to live out of poverty.

Jeff Blanck is an attorney in private practice in Reno. He can be reached at jblanck@jeffreyblancklaw.com.