[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 58 (Wednesday, May 1, 1996)]
[House]
[Pages H4305-H4306]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            TIME FOR A RAISE

  (Ms. ROYBAL-ALLARD asked and was given permission to address the 
House for 1 minute.)
  Ms. ROYBAL-ALLARD. Mr. Speaker, America's workers need a raise.
  It has been almost 7 years since Congress raised the minimum wage.
  Nearly all the benefits of that bipartisan effort have been eroded by 
inflation, reducing the value of the minimum wage to its lowest level 
since the early 60's.
  Those who will benefit from a minimum wage increase are the 7 million 
working adults earning less than the President's proposed wage increase 
of $5.15 an hour, and the 40 percent of minimum wage workers who are 
the sole breadwinners of their family.
  The additional $1,800 a year these workers will earn can pay for 
several

[[Page H4306]]

months of groceries, health care services, household utilities, or go 
toward their children's education at a local community college.
  Now is the time not for promises but for action.
  If this Congress wants to encourage work we must reward working 
families by increasing the minimum wage and giving them hope for a 
better future.
  It is time to give America's workers a raise.

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