Catholic bishops urge Iowa lawmakers to increase minimum wage

DES MOINES - Bishops from Catholic Church dioceses in Iowa took on the role of lobbyists Tuesday in urging state legislators to approval a boost in the state's minimum wage.

Democrats in the Iowa Legislature had supported raising minimum wage in Iowa to $10.10 an hour over three years, but scaled back the proposal to boost the hourly minimum pay to $8.75 by July 2016 in two, 75-cent increments.

Bishops Martin Amos of Davenport said it is tragic that there are people in Iowa working 40 hours a week who still can't pay their bills. He said an increase in the minimum wage paid to those workers is needed to help them survive.

'I don't care what they do ($8.75 versus $10.10), but I think we've got to start doing it,” said Amos. 'I'd say let's take what we can get while we can get it and then worry about more the next time around.”

Amos said he also supported a measure that cleared the Senate Labor and Business Relations Committee to combat wage theft, saying 'that's incredibly terrible to me that somebody would do that.”

Bishop R. Walker Nickless of Sioux City said the split-control Legislature needs to do the best lawmakers can in helping Iowans, especially the middle class and the state's most needy, and Bishop Richard Pates of Des Moines said raising the minimum wage is 'extraordinarily important” in that regard.

Pate said the bishops' legislative outreach also include an appeal for legislators to consider offering a state-funded 'education grant” that parents could use to send their children to the public or private schools of their choice. He said the proposal could be started at the kindergarten level and phased in over time to better absorb the potential $200 million cost.

Nickless said the bishops also made a pitch for legislation that would require a woman to have an ultrasound at least 24 hours before a scheduled abortion. The procedure would provide an ultrasound image of a fetus to prospective parents as a way to discourage abortion.

'When a young parent sees an actual picture of the baby in the mother's womb, that makes a huge difference,” he said. 'I'm hoping for that.”

Rep. Walt Rogers, R-Cedar Falls, was among the legislators who met with the trio of bishops at a morning reception at the Statehouse. He said he was not swayed by the appeal for a higher minimum wage.

'I don't agree with them on everything,” Rogers said. 'When it comes to saving babies, we're on the same page.”