[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 73 (Wednesday, May 22, 1996)]
[House]
[Page H5385]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    REPUBLICANS AND THE MINIMUM WAGE

  (Ms. McKINNEY asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Ms. McKINNEY. Mr. Speaker, finally, after months of prodding and 
pleading with the Republican leadership, we are going to vote on 
increasing the minimum wage.
  Not too long ago, Mr. Speaker, members of the Republican leadership 
were saying things like, and I quote,

       I will resist an increase in the minimum wage with every 
     fiber of my being.

  Or,

     I'll commit suicide before I vote on a clean minimum wage 
     bill.

  While the vote on increasing the minimum wage will only be an 
amendment to another bill, the fact of the matter is that the votes 
that we're taking today are neither clean nor real. Newt Gingrich and 
the Republicans have found yet another way to feed the American people 
a pig in a poke. This Republican political sleight of hand will 
actually repeal the minimum wage laws and exclude workers from minimum 
wage protections.
  Mr. Speaker, we all feared that the Republicans would go too far. We 
all feared that the Republicans would serve their rich fat-cat friends 
at the expense of the rest of us. But, by their offerings today, 
they've confirmed that our worst fears have indeed come true.

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