[House Document 104-33]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]





                                     

        104th Congress, 1st Session - - - - - - - - - - - - - Document 
104-33


 
        PROPOSED LEGISLATION: ``WORKING WAGE INCREASE ACT OF 1995''

                               __________

                                MESSAGE

                                  from

                   THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES

                              transmitting

 A DRAFT OF PROPOSED LEGISLATION ENTITLED, ``WORKING WAGE INCREASE ACT 
                               OF 1995''




  February 13, 1995.--Message and accompanying papers referred to the 
 Committee on Economic and Educational Opportunities and ordered to be 
                                printed
To the Congress of the United States:
    I am pleased to transmit for your immediate consideration 
and enactment the ``Working Wage Increase Act of 1995.''
    This draft bill would amend the Fair Labor Standards Act to 
increase the minimum wage in two 45 cents steps--from the 
current rate of $4.25 an hour to $4.70 an hour on July 4, 1995, 
and to $5.15 an hour after July 3, 1996. The pattern of the 
proposed increase is identical to that of the last increase, 
which passed the Congress with a broad bipartisan majority and 
was signed by President Bush in 1989. The first increment of 
the proposal simply restores the minimum wage to its real value 
following the change enacted in 1989.
    If the Congress does not act now, the minimum wage will 
fall to its lowest real level in 40 years. That would dishonor 
one of the great promises of American life--that everyone who 
works hard can earn a living wage. More than 11 million workers 
would benefit under this proposal, and a full-time, year-round 
worker at the minimum wage would get a $1,800 raise--the 
equivalent of 7 months of groceries for the average family.
    To reform the Nation's welfare system, we should make work 
pay, and this legislation would help achieve that result. It 
would offer a raise to families that are working hard, but 
struggling to make ends meet. Most individuals earning the 
minimum wage are adults, and the average worker affected by 
this proposal brings home half of the family's earnings. 
Numerous empirical studies indicate that an increase in the 
minimum wage of the magnitude proposed would not have a 
significant impact on employment. The legislation would ensure 
that those who work hard and play by the rules can live with 
the dignity they have earned.
    I urge the Congress to take prompt and favorable action on 
this legislation.

                                                William J. Clinton.
    The White House, February 13, 1995.
 A BILL To amend the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 to increase the 
                    minimum wage rate under that Act

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
the United States of America in Congress assembled,

                              Short Title

    Section 1. This Act may be cited as the ``Working Wage 
Increase Act of 1995.''

                      Increase in the Minimum Wage

    Section 2. Paragraph (1) of section 6(a) of the Fair Labor 
Standards Act (29 U.S.C. 206(a)(1)) is amended to read as 
follows:
    ``(1) except as otherwise provided in this section, not 
less than $4.25 an hour during the period ending July 3, 1995, 
not less than $4.70 an hour during the year beginning July 4, 
1995, and not less than $5.15 an hour after July 3, 1996;''