[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 22 (Friday, February 3, 1995)]
[House]
[Pages H1192-H1193]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            THE MINIMUM WAGE

  (Mr. WISE asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mr. WISE. Mr. Speaker, I want to rise today to state my support of 
the President's proposal to raise the minimum wage from $4.25 to $5.15 
in 45 cent increments.
  Today in West Virginia a family of three making the minimum wage is 
below the poverty line, making $8,800 a year.
  In the 1960's and 1970's, a family of three making the minimum wage 
was above the poverty line, but today they would be $3,500 below the 
official poverty line.
  The minimum wage today is, in real dollars, $2.25 below the real 
value of the minimum wage in 1968. The income gap is only widening for 
West Virginia families. In fact, 17 percent of our families in West 
Virginia earn less than $5 per hour.
  Mr. Speaker, we are asking, and rightly so, people to leave welfare. 
We are trying to create jobs. We are telling people the most important 
thing is to work.
  There must be a reward to work. One of the rewards is making sure 
that the 
[[Page H1193]] minimum wage is not a truly poverty wage, as it is 
today.
  I support the raising of the minimum wage.
  

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