[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 55 (Thursday, April 25, 1996)]
[House]
[Page H3826]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          GIVE AMERICA A RAISE

  (Mr. MARKEY asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. MARKEY. Mr. Speaker, Harry Truman used to say that the Republican 
Party supports the minimum wage: The lower the minimum, the better. Now 
that we are at a historic minimum, the Republicans will not even give 
the American people a vote on the floor of the Congress so we can give 
America a raise, and that is wrong.
  Mr. Speaker, I remember when I was a boy, and minimum wage jobs, when 
the minimum wage went up 20 cents, it was a raise. It gave you 
something to be proud of. It gave you a little extra money.
  For Americans to get an extra one buck an hour is $1,800 a year. That 
is the average 40-hour workweek. That is a lot of money for families. 
You can buy a lot of food and health care with $1,800. That is $1 an 
hour.
  Give America a raise. Give people who make the minimum wage the 
decency of allowing them to fulfill Harry Truman's promise for this 
country.

                          ____________________