[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 22 (Friday, February 3, 1995)]
[House]
[Page H1167]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        RAISING THE MINIMUM WAGE

  (Ms. PELOSI asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Ms. PELOSI. Mr. Speaker, nothing speaks more clearly to the need for 
an increase in the minimum wage than the plight of poor children in 
America. Earlier this week, the National Center for Children in Poverty 
released a study that should trouble all of us. The study shows that 
one in every four children under the age of 6 in our country was living 
in poverty in 1992. That number is twice what it was in 1972 and 
includes an increase of 1 million children in the 5 years between 1987 
and 1992.
  Three of every five of these children have working parents, but they 
make the minimum wage. And it is not a living wage. Working parents are 
trying to provide a decent life for their children.
  We have heard our colleagues talk about the fact that if someone 
works full-time minimum wage, they make $8,400 a year, nearly 50 
percent below the poverty line.
  We have a moral responsibility to give those working parents and 
their children a fighting chance by giving them a living wage. The 
American people agree. In December, the Wall Street Journal-NCB poll 
showed 75 to 20 the American people favored an increase in the minimum 
wage. In January the L.A. Times reported 72 percent.
  In 1989, when we took up this vote, 382 Members of this House, 
including 135 Republicans, voted for the increase in the minimum wage.
  Let us do it again.

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