[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 75 (Friday, May 24, 1996)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E927]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     IN SUPPORT OF THE MINIMUM WAGE

                                 ______


                         HON. GERALD D. KLECZKA

                              of wisconsin

                    in the house of representatives

                         Thursday, May 23, 1996

  Mr. KLECZKA. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of raising the 
minimum wage.
  The minimum wage is a critical earnings floor for the working men and 
women of our Nation. I have supported the necessary periodic increase 
in the minimum wage since I was first elected to Congress, introducing 
my own bill for this purpose in 1986. In 1989, I voted in favor of 
adjusting the minimum wage to its current level of $4.25.
  It is abundantly clear that $4.25 is no longer an adequate minimum 
wage. Since 1991, the wage has lost $0.50 in value. An individual 
working full time at this rate makes less than $9,000 per year--not 
nearly enough to support a family.
  Even the proposed increase of $0.90 over 2 years will only compensate 
for half the value lost in inflation during the 1980's. However, it is 
a critical step.
  Nearly 12 million workers across our Nation are working for minimum 
wage. Of these, close to 75 percent are over 20 years of age. Fifty-
eight percent of these adults are women, many of them single mothers. 
In Wisconsin alone, about 9 percent of our workforce--over 200,000 
people--is earning less than $5.15 per hour.
  This is simply not sustainable. If we are going to reform welfare, 
cut the earned income tax credit, and reduce other benefits for the 
poor, we must guarantee them a livable wage. We cannot cut all the legs 
off the table and then wonder why it does not stand. The minimum wage 
is a crucial safety net for the working poor, ensuring that we do not 
return to the sweatshops of the past, where unscrupulous employers 
preyed upon the desperate.
  I would also like to express my opposition to the Goodling 
amendments, which represent nothing more than a cynical attempt to 
scuttle the minimum wage increase. The first of these amendments would 
discriminate against new hires and tipped employees, two of the groups 
most likely to be earning the minimum wage. These provisions would 
allow employers to pay subminimum wage levels to these workers.
  The second Goodling amendment would exempt small businesses with less 
than $500,000 in gross annual sales from minimum wage laws. This would 
effectively excuse two-thirds of all American businesses, employing 
over 10 million workers, from providing a modest wage floor. This is 
outrageous. I hope our colleagues in the Senate will recognize these 
provisions for the cynical ploy they are and reject them outright.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge all of my colleagues in the strongest possible 
terms to vote in favor of increasing the minimum wage.

                          ____________________