[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 54 (Wednesday, April 24, 1996)]
[House]
[Page H3736]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  FAMILIES NEED TO EARN A LIVABLE WAGE

  (Ms. WOOLSEY asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. WOOLSEY. Mr. Speaker, we are hearing a lot of excuses from the 
majority these days about why we do not need to increase the minimum 
wage. Mr. Speaker, I know firsthand why families need to earn a livable 
wage.
  Over 28 years ago I was a single working mother with three small 
children, receiving no child support. Even though I was working, I was 
earning so little that I had to go on welfare to take care of my 
children. I tell my colleagues this, Mr. Speaker, because too many 
families today face the same situation.
  In spite of what the majority whip has said about minimum wage and 
about earning $4.25 an hour, almost 5 million Americans work for at or 
below minimum wage, and I am not talking about teenagers looking for 
extra cash. Rather, the average minimum wage earner looks a lot like I 
did 28 years ago, an adult woman supporting her family by herself. 
Today that mother is worse off because the purchasing power of the 
minimum wage has plummeted to a 40-year low.
  Clearly, it is time to make work pay by increasing the minimum wage 
now.

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