[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 53 (Tuesday, April 23, 1996)]
[House]
[Page H3667]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




           STOP PLAYING POLITICAL GAMES WITH THE MINIMUM WAGE

  (Ms. DeLAURO asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. DeLAURO. To quickly respond to my colleagues who spoke about 
Medicare, the congressional Republicans in this body do not want to fix 
Medicare. They, in fact, want to destroy Medicare. They proposed a $270 
billion cut in Medicare to pay for a $245 billion tax break for the 
wealthiest Americans. Do not let us let them get away with it.
  Mr. Speaker, on the front page of today's Washington Times, a 
Republican Senator says of congressional Republicans, ``We have no 
agenda.''
  Mr. Speaker, in the spirit of bipartisanship, I want to offer some 
assistance to my Republican colleagues. For starters, the Republican 
leadership can schedule a vote on raising the minimum wage in this 
Nation. Most families are working harder in a mad scramble to pay their 
bills every single week. They need a raise, and we should raise the 
minimum wage.
  Today the minimum wage is at a 40-year low. Democrats have proposed 
boosting it by a mere 90 cents, but the Republican leadership continues 
to block any effort to bring forward a vote on the minimum wage. Let us 
do it, let us give hard-working Americans the raise that they need to 
take care of their families.

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