[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 25 (Wednesday, February 8, 1995)]
[House]
[Page H1377]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


           SUPPORT URGED FOR RAISING THE MINIMUM HOURLY WAGE

  (Mr. FIELDS of Louisiana asked and was given permission to address 
the House for 1 minute, and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. FIELDS of Louisiana. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to commend the 
President on recommending a minimum wage increase for the hard-working 
people of this country.
  There are people who wake up every single morning in this country, go 
to work every day, and at the end of the day they are still poor, not 
because they are lazy but because we need to raise the minimum wage.
  It is an absolute shame, Mr. Speaker, that there are people who walk 
into this Chamber making $550 a day and tell people who are making a 
mere $680 a month that they are not entitled to a cost-of-living 
adjustment. I find that to be absolutely outrageous at best.
  Mr. Speaker, we have not raised the minimum wage since April 1991; 
according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, there are an estimated 11 
million workers who earn the minimum wage, two-thirds of which are 
adults.
  Sixty percent are women, many are heads of the households.
  Finally, Mr. Speaker, what better way to get people off of the 
welfare rolls, than by giving them a chance to be on a payroll that 
pays a decent wage.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to stand up for the working people 
in the country and vote ``yes'' to a minimum wage increase, so that 
people can get paid for the hard work that they do every single day of 
their life.


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