[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 63 (Wednesday, May 8, 1996)]
[House]
[Pages H4534-H4535]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




         RAISING THE MINIMUM WAGE SHOULD BE A BIPARTISAN EFFORT

  (Mr. DURBIN asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. Speaker, last Monday in Chicago, IL, I met a lady who 
works for Montgomery Ward and makes barely more than the minimum wage. 
She is staying off welfare. She is raising her children. She is doing 
the right and responsible thing. She deserves a raise.
  Mr. Speaker, I asked her what she would do with the $150 a month 
which would come her way if the Democrats and 21 brave Republicans who 
have joined us have our way and raise the minimum wage. She said, ``The 
first

[[Page H4535]]

thing I would like to do is buy a new pair of eyeglasses. It has been a 
long, long time.''
  Mr. Speaker, I think Senator Dole and many of the Republican leaders 
really do not understand what real families face each and every week 
and month keeping their families together, paying for the basics.
  We need an increase in the minimum wage. It should not be a 
Presidential campaign issue. It should be a bipartisan effort, as it 
has always been, to make sure that some of the hardest working people 
in America have a fighting chance.
  Mr. Speaker, in terms of cutting the gas tax, let us not do that at 
the expense of education. The gentleman from Texas [Mr. Armey], the 
majority leader, is wrong. We need college student loans for the kids 
of working families.

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