[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 73 (Wednesday, May 22, 1996)]
[House]
[Page H5383]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




       GINGRICH-ARMEY RULE ON MINIMUM WAGE CONTAINS POISON PILLS

  (Mr. BONIOR asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. BONIOR. Mr. Speaker, after months of prodding our colleagues who 
run this institution on the Republican side of the aisle to bring a 
minimum wage bill to the floor so we can get people who have chosen 
work over welfare an increase from $4.25 an hour to something that at 
least approaches what they need to live on, what do we get today? We 
get a rule and we get a bill that has odious poison pills in it that 
will kill the minimum wage.
  This Gingrich-Armey rule is designed to do exactly that. It does not 
give a minimum wage increase to people, it repeals it for literally 
millions of people in this country. People who work in garment 
sweatshops across this country could find their wages lowered.
  It is just an outrage. They do not get it yet. America deserves a 
raise; it needs a raise. We need a clean bill, no poison pills. Let us 
raise the wages of those who choose work over welfare. Let us vote 
against this Goodling amendment, vote against the rule, and then pass a 
good minimum wage.

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