[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 50 (Thursday, April 18, 1996)]
[House]
[Page H3624]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      INCREASING THE MINIMUM WAGE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from California [Ms. Woolsey] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Ms. WOOLSEY. Mr. Speaker, 28 years ago, I was a single working mother 
with three small children, receiving no child support and earning close 
to the minimum wage. Even though I was working, I was earning so little 
that I was forced to go on welfare to provide my children with the 
child care, the health care, and the food that they needed. Even though 
I was educated and had good job skills, I still was not earning enough 
to fully support my children. My story bears repeating tonight, because 
too many families today are in the same predicament I was 28 years ago.
  Mr. Speaker, if this Congress is truly serious about reducing 
dependence on welfare, then let us increase the minimum wage. Let us 
make work pay, and let us make sure that paying working parents enough 
to support their families and take care of their children is a priority 
on our agenda.
  Mr. Speaker, the minimum wage has not kept up with the increase in 
the cost of living. Workers these days can put in a full day of work, 
40 hours a week, at minimum wage and still live below the poverty line. 
The new majority in Congress wants to cut the earned income tax credit, 
kick single moms and their children off welfare, and reduce health 
benefits for low-income families, but they will not even hold a hearing 
on increasing the minimum wage. If we want to reduce reliance on public 
assistance, Mr. Speaker, does it not make sense to make work pay? 
Should not entry level jobs pay more than public subsistence?
  In addition to making economic sense, a minimum wage increase is also 
a matter of basic fairness for millions of working Americans. Mr. 
Speaker, in 1960, the average pay for a chief executive officer of some 
of the largest U.S. corporations was 12 times greater than the average 
wage of their factory workers. Today, those same CEOs receive wages and 
compensation worth more than 135 times the wages and benefits of their 
average employee, the average employee at the same corporation. In some 
instances, Mr. Speaker, the difference is more than 200 times. That is 
not fair, and it is not fair that about 70 percent of minimum wage 
earners are women, adult women with children. It is not fair that from 
1973 to 1993, real income for working men, men with high school 
diplomas, dropped by 30 percent.
  Businesses are doing well, Mr. Speaker. Private business productivity 
has been increasing. Profits are up, but wages are stagnant. What is 
wrong with this picture? Is it not time to let American workers share 
the fruits of their labor?
  Speaker Gingrich and his allies say they support traditional American 
values. Let us return to the traditional American value of paying an 
honest wage for an honest day's work. Let us raise the minimum wage, 
and let us do it now.

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