[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 41 (Monday, March 6, 1995)]
[House]
[Pages H2657-H2658]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               THE PROPOSAL TO INCREASE THE MINIMUM WAGE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 4, 1995, the gentlewoman from North Carolina [Mrs. Clayton] is 
recognized during morning business for 1 minute.
  Mrs. CLAYTON. Mr. Speaker, I rise to urge early hearings on the 
proposal to increase the minimum wage.
   [[Page H2658]] The Speaker has promised to have hearings scheduled. 
Those hearings should be scheduled soon.
  We are slashing the school lunch and breakfast program.
  We are removing thousands of women, infants, and children from the 
WIC Program.
  We are cutting education programs, and programs that move teenagers 
from school to work, including complete elimination of the Summer Jobs 
Program.
  We are slicing away at public housing support programs.
  And, while telling the poor they must work to eat, we have yet to 
give any consideration to a modest increase in the minimum wage.
  Mr. Speaker, somewhere in these first 100 days, we should find time 
to give the millions of minimum wage workers a hearing on the subject 
to their wages.
  If we want to force citizens to work to eat, let us provide a livable 
wage so that they can earn enough to feed themselves.

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