[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 22 (Friday, February 3, 1995)]
[House]
[Page H1165]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             SHOULD MINIMUM WAGE BE TIED TO MEXICAN WAGES?

  (Mr. BONIOR asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mr. BONIOR. Mr. Speaker, at today's press conference, Speaker 
Gingrich argued that the wages of American workers should not be raised 
because of the problems with the Mexican economy. Does the Speaker and 
the Republican Party really believe we should tie American wages, that 
the standard of living of American working families should be driven 
down to the standard of a living wage in Mexico?
  It is time for us to stand up for working people in this country. 
People should be rewarded for their hard work. People who try to move 
from welfare to work should see that work pays. Yet a person on a 
minimum wage today who works hard, who works 40 hours a week, who takes 
responsibility for his or her action, who tries to raise a family finds 
that that family earns less than $9,000 a year.
  Mr. Speaker, that is below the poverty line. Ask yourself, how could 
you raise a family on less than $9,000 a year?
  Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to 
support the increase in the minimum wage.


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