[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 73 (Wednesday, May 22, 1996)]
[House]
[Page H5388]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




FIFTEEN PERCENT RAISE FOR CORPORATE EXECUTIVES; REPUBLICANS ATTEMPTING 
                         TO REDUCE MINIMUM WAGE

  (Mr. MARKEY asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mr. MARKEY. Mr. Speaker, Harry Truman used to say the Republican 
Party supports the minimum wage. The lower the minimum, the better.
  In today's Forbes magazine, the bible of the Republican Party, we 
find that the 800 top chief executives in the United States averaged 
$1.5 million last year, up 15 percent. But for the minimum-wage workers 
in this country, the Republican Party wants nothing for them, no 
increase whatsoever, and the proposal they are bringing out here will 
lead to a reduction in pay for millions of these working people.
  The Republican Party has had two responses so far this year. First, 
like Oliver Twist, when he held up his empty bowl and said ``More,'' 
the workhouse master said, ``Too much,'' and the second Republican 
response has been revolutionary, as in the French Revolution when the 
starving French citizens pleaded for bread and Marie Antoinette said, 
``Let them eat cake.''

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