[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 73 (Wednesday, May 22, 1996)]
[House]
[Page H5384]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




      REPUBLICAN PLAN WOULD EXCLUDE MORE WORKERS FROM MINIMUM WAGE

  (Mr. PALLONE asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, I am sometimes asked what does it mean to 
be a Democrat, and what it mans to be a Democrat is that you care about 
working people and their concerns and whether they are going to be able 
to earn a decent wage. That is what this vote is all about today.
  All of a sudden the Republican leadership is forced to bring up a 
vote on the minimum wage, but instead of bringing it up in a clean 
fashion, what they are really doing is repealing it and making it so 
that a lot of people right now, who would be getting a minimum wage, 
even at the low amount that it is, are going to be not eligible, 
unfortunately, for the minimum wage.
  So instead of bringing up a clean bill, where the minimum wage is 
increased and people have a decent wage, now we see the Republican 
leadership actually trying to repeal the minimum wage. That is what 
they are all about.
  Just like they talked about repealing Medicare or letting it wither 
on the vine, now they want to let the minimum wage wither on the vine 
because they do not care about working people.
  I heard what my colleague from Arizona just said. He is against the 
minimum wage, and that is what is going to happen here today. They are 
going to bring up a vote and use it as an excuse instead of raising the 
minimum wage to eliminate something like 3 to 7 million Americans from 
having any treatment and getting any minimum wage.

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