[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 55 (Thursday, April 25, 1996)]
[House]
[Pages H4102-H4103]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




       104TH CONGRESS EARNING SHAMEFUL REPUTATION ON MINIMUM WAGE

  (Ms. McKINNEY asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. McKINNEY. Mr. Speaker, on Tuesday I sent this letter to Speaker 
Gingrich urging him to hold a vote on a clean minimum wage increase. 
And today we learn that we will not even have the opportunity to vote 
on a dirty minimum wage increase.
  I have my daughter here for the day, Shanterri Grier, and she is here 
at the Capitol with me. Every one of the Republican leaders has said 
that she does not deserve the right to earn a decent wage. Shame, 
shame, shame. This Congress is earning its reputation.
  Conservative political analyst Kevin Phillips said the 104th Congress 
may be the worst in 50 years, and they are proving it today.
  Mr. Speaker, the letter referred to earlier is included for the 
Record.
                                    Congress of the United States,


                                     House of Representatives,

                                   Washington, DC, April 23, 1996.
     Hon. Newt Gingrich,
     Speaker of the House of Representatives, Washington, DC.
       Dear Speaker Gingrich: As a member of the Georgia 
     Congressional Delegation I feel

[[Page H4103]]

     compelled to write you about the fast-eroding minimum wage 
     and its impact on the working people of our State. I 
     respectfully request that you permit the House of 
     Representatives to vote on increasing the minimum wage, 
     without attaching highly controversial riders that would only 
     sabotage the proposed 90 cent increase.
       It is my understanding, from numerous press reports, that 
     you may schedule a vote to increase the minimum wage. 
     However, I am dismayed to learn that you intend to attach 
     numerous other provisions which would weaken worker 
     protections and increase the deficit. I fail to see the 
     purpose of undermining occupational safety and health 
     standards and/or including tax cuts without offsets, when it 
     is the tragically low minimum wage that needs to be 
     addressed.
       The false link you are creating between a minimum wage 
     increase and a reduction in worker protections, is little 
     more than a cynical ploy to convince people earning $8,400 a 
     year that less safe working conditions are the price they 
     must pay for a living wage. This Machiavellian approach is 
     insensitive to the needs of thousands of working Georgians 
     who struggle just to put food on the table.
       As of 1994, 11.9% of Georgia's workforce was earning 
     between $4.25 and $5.14 an hour. A 90 cent increase would 
     help these nearly 362,000 people make ends meet. I have heard 
     arguments from Republican leaders that raising the minimum 
     wage would reduce jobs. However, numerous studies have shown 
     little to no job loss when the minimum wage was raised--in 
     some cases the number of jobs have increased. Moreover, an 
     eminent group of 101 economists, including three Nobel Prize 
     laureates, recently endorsed an increase in the federal 
     minimum wage.
       On behalf of working Georgians earning the minimum wage, I 
     urge you to bring a clean minimum wage increase up for a vote 
     on the floor of the House before the Memorial Day district 
     work period.
           Sincerely,
                                                 Cynthia McKinney,
     Member of Congress

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