[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 25 (Wednesday, February 8, 1995)]
[House]
[Page H1378]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    MINIMUM WAGE NOT TIED TO MEXICO

  (Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts asked and was given permission to address 
the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts. Mr. Speaker, I am glad to hear the 
Republicans talk about how they want us to be able to work, because I 
take that to mean that they will not try to bottle up the President's 
thoughtful, compassionate proposal to raise the minimum wage.
  Now, I was a little concerned when I read the Speaker's opposition to 
it. I was especially puzzled when I saw that he said that one reason we 
could not afford to raise the minimum wage of American workers to a 
living wage, and it is well below that now, is that wages are so low in 
Mexico.
  I am puzzled because when we were dealing with the question of an 
American guarantee for Mexican loans, many of us on the Democratic side 
felt that we should address in that context wages in Mexico, and we 
made the point that we wanted to insist on mechanisms in Mexico that 
would no longer arbitrarily depress the wages of Mexican workers, but 
allow them to rise. We were told that that was really none of our 
business.
  But now the Speaker tells us that precisely because Mexican wages are 
so low, he cannot support giving American workers $5.15 an hour. This 
is validation of the point we made with regard to Mexico, and it is 
further argument for raising the American minimum wage.




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