[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 50 (Thursday, April 18, 1996)]
[House]
[Page H3586]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 PRESIDENT CLINTON VETOED MEASURES THAT WOULD HAVE HELPED MINIMUM WAGE 
                                EARNERS

  (Mr. TIAHRT asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. TIAHRT. Mr. Speaker, we are talking about raising the minimum 
wage because it is at a 40-year low? Well, we have raised the minimum 
wage several times, and yet it is still at a 40-year low. I do not 
think it is working.
  Common sense is not working, because historically it does push 
inflation. Unions tell me that purchasing power is at an all-time low 
because of inflation, and yet that is what the problem is and we want 
to raise the minimum wage.
  Well, 75 percent of the people on minimum wage are students. Most of 
them in minority communities. That is the area that is hit the worst 
when we increase the minimum wage, the minority communities--6.5 
percent of the people on minimum wage are heads of households.
  Now, we have tried to help the working poor, the heads of households 
on minimum wage, with an earned income tax credit, actually putting 
more money into their pocket, and it is not inflationary. That was 
vetoed by Mr. Clinton. We also had a $500 per child tax credit, which 
would have put more money in the pockets of the working poor. Mr. 
Clinton vetoed it. Neither of them inflationary, neither of them eating 
into the wages of working Americans and the working poor.
  It is time for Congress to do the right thing for the working poor 
and the working families. Oppose the minimum wage.

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