[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 63 (Wednesday, May 8, 1996)]
[House]
[Page H4534]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        MAKE SURE THAT WORK PAYS

  (Mrs. KENNELLY asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute.)
  Mrs. KENNELLY. Mr. Speaker, I recently received a letter from the 
Jobs Partnership Committee of HART, one of the preeminent community 
groups in Hartford, CT. In the midst of a highly charged political 
debate on the minimum wage, this letter points out the real world 
concerns so many Americans are dealing with, and I would like to share 
a portion of it with my colleagues:

       We write to support congressional efforts to increase the 
     minimum wage. Many jobs in Connecticut are posted at $4.27 an 
     hour, but we cannot afford to live on yearly incomes of 
     $8,880. We ask how the Government can impose sanctions on 
     welfare benefits and time limits, and at the same time uphold 
     poverty rate income levels in the private sector.

  I think that is a good question. If we are serious about moving 
people from welfare to work, we have to make sure that work pays. The 
proposed modest increase in the minimum wage is a first step--and a 
necessary step--toward welfare reform, and I would urge my colleagues 
to take it.

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