[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 55 (Thursday, April 25, 1996)]
[House]
[Pages H4044-H4045]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   HELPING WORKING AMERICANS THROUGH AN INCREASE IN THE MINIMUM WAGE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from Connecticut [Ms. DeLauro] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, my Republican colleagues continue to refuse 
to allow a vote on the minimum wage. It was only minutes ago in this 
body that they once again rejected a democratic effort to bring the 
minimum wage increase to the floor for a vote. I might add that in that 
vote were 15 Republican colleagues who only days ago, along with a few 
others, who said that they were splitting with their leadership; they 
believed that we ought to pass a minimum wage, and that that vote ought 
to be brought up in this body. Fifteen of them, when they had the 
opportunity, they would have made the difference, they would have made 
the difference in the vote, so that the people's House, the House of 
Representatives, could have voted to raise the minimum wage a mere 90 
cents.
  As a matter of fact, because I was watching the clock, when there was 
about 220 votes, that is enough in order to defeat the opportunity to 
bring the vote up, several of them hung back, waited until it was lost, 
and then cast their vote against bringing it up. Talk about profiles in 
courage? Real courage. But it is nice to get the press accounts in the 
last few days of how you break with leadership and call for a minimum 
wage. And when you have the opportunity which this body afforded only a 
few minutes ago, they took a walk. I am sure that their constituents 
are going to take a hard look at this vote.
  I have bad news for those who oppose a fair minimum wage. We are not 
done. We will be back, again and again and again, until we see the 
minimum wage increased in this country.
  We will not give up, because there is a lot at stake in this minimum 
wage debate and in this vote. This debate is not about yet another way 
for my Republican colleagues to reward the rich and the powerful in 
this country. It is not another perk for those in power or a payoff to 
some special interest lobby. What is at stake here is whether or not 
this Congress will honor and reward hard work and tell the hard working 
men and women in this Nation that we care about what you do, we honor 
what you do, and we know what a difficult struggle it is every single 
week to scramble, to pay those bills, to make sure that your kids can 
go to college. And then, my God, after these years of work, that you 
can have a decent and dignified and secure retirement.
  We will tell minimum wage workers that we respect that valiant 
struggle. The minimum wage is already at a 40-year low. It continues to 
plummet in value. And what we do is we discourage people from working. 
We say to people, go ahead, be on welfare.
  That is crazy. We want to reward work in this country. That is what 
it is all about. That is what the people are about, that is what my 
folks are about. They worked hard. They worked hard to be able to send 
me to school. And people who are doing that ought to understand that 
those who they elect are going to reward that hard work.
  Who are the typical minimum wage workers? The typical minimum worker 
is a woman. Almost two-thirds are adults, 20 years of age or older. Do 
not let them get away with saying the minimum wage workers are 
teenagers. They are not. That is not true.

[[Page H4045]]

  The average minimum wage worker brings home half of his or her 
family's earnings, and about 40 percent of this Nation's minimum wage 
workers are the sole bread winner of their family. A full-time minimum 
wage worker makes $8,500 a year. It is less than what people on welfare 
do get today in this country.

  Think about it. An increase in the minimum wage would help working 
men and women who are providing the only source of income for their 
families, and we could honor their hard work. These are the ordinary 
folks, average people, waiters, waitresses, people who wash the dishes. 
They are struggling everyday.
  Do you know that when the Government shut down in December, the 
Members of this body, Members of Congress who make over $130,000 a 
year, they got more in that period of shutdown than a full-time minimum 
wage worker makes in an entire year?
  It is wrong. Raise the minimum wage. Let us do it now. Let us bring 
this up for a vote.

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