[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 24 (Tuesday, February 7, 1995)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E283]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                        SUPPORT FOR MINIMUM WAGE

                                 ______


                          HON. LYNN C. WOOLSEY

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, February 7, 1995
  Ms. WOOLSEY. Mr. Speaker, I rise to commend the President in the 
strongest possible terms for his proposal to increase the minimum wage 
and provide much-needed relief for the working families of this 
country.
  In 1991, before I came to Congress, I was a human resources 
consultant. Back then, the minimum wage was at the same level that it 
is today: $4.25 an hour. In Sonoma County, where I worked, it was a 
joke to expect someone to support a family with a minimum wage job, 
because the minimum wage was not a livable wage. Well, Mr. Speaker, it 
is even less livable now, because inflation has cut its value by 50 
cents over the past 4 years. This is a crisis for America's working 
families that Congress must address immediately.
  To those who oppose President Clinton on this issue, and especially 
to those who want to eliminate the minimum wage altogether, I want to 
remind you that 75 percent of the American people agree with our 
President. I urge my colleagues to unite on behalf of America's working 
families--to provide them with the wage they deserve.


                          ____________________