[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 54 (Wednesday, April 24, 1996)]
[House]
[Page H3735]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   GIVE OUR STUDENTS AN OPPORTUNITY TO WORK THEIR WAY THROUGH SCHOOL

  (Mr. FLAKE asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. FLAKE. Mr. Speaker, one of the great arguments that I have heard 
in this debate about the minimum wage has been that there are many 
students who receive minimum wage. I stand here this morning as a 
product of the family of 13 children, parents who could not afford to 
send me to college, and the only way I could get through was to work.
  I do not see anything wrong with trying to provide a wage that allows 
a student to be able to work their way through school particularly when 
we are cutting back in so many areas that affect and impact the lives 
of students who have been able to get scholarships, be able to get 
grants and loans. It seems to me that if we are going to be fair, we 
have to be fair to every American citizen, even those who are students 
who have a desire, a will, to work.
  Mr. Speaker, my mother taught me how to cook, wash, iron, and sew. 
That is how I got through college. There are many other young people 
who could do the same thing if we were fair enough to them to give them 
that opportunity, give them the best wages. I have waited tables, I 
have bussed tables, I have shined shoes, I have done everything, and we 
ought to let them do it. Pay them a good enough salary so that we can 
indeed come to that point where maybe if we reduce the scholarships, 
they will know they can work their way through.
  Mr. Speaker, I think it is a good thing. I am a product and a witness 
of it.

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