[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 22 (Friday, February 3, 1995)]
[House]
[Pages H1161-H1162]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               THE MINIMUM WAGE: PUT WORKING PEOPLE FIRST

  (Mr. FAZIO of California asked and was given permission to address 
the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. FAZIO of California. Mr. Speaker, we need to put working people 
first. The minimum wage increase proposed today will allow hard-working 
Americans the opportunity to take control of their future and secure 
for themselves and their families a place in America's middle class.
  Too many Americans are struggling to make ends meet. They work longer 
hours for lower pay.
  The average minimum-wage worker brings home about half of his or her 
family's income. Sixty-five percent of them are adults.
  Providing people who are playing by the rules with more take-home pay 
will benefit not just a select few, it will 
[[Page H1162]] help all of us. And we have a moral responsibility to 
insure that people who work are not living in poverty.
  As we emphasize the importance of moving people off welfare and onto 
work and the Congress begins that debate, we should not lose at all the 
simple fact that a decent hourly wage cuts through a sea of Federal 
benefits programs and elaborate job-training programs to provide a firm 
hand of support.
  The President has taken the lead in making work pay for all 
Americans. This Congress must respond to that challenge.


                          ____________________