[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 94 (Monday, June 24, 1996)]
[Senate]
[Page S6754]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              MINIMUM WAGE

  Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, 58 years ago today, on the eve of his 
signing into law the first Federal minimum wage, President Franklin 
Roosevelt gave a fireside chat. He warned the American people that they 
would hear ``Calamity howling business executives with incomes of 
$1,000 a day, claim that the new minimum wage of $11 a week will have a 
disastrous effect on all American industry.'' It was not true then and 
it is not true today.
  The minimum wage will not hurt business, cause job loss, or cause 
inflation. It will, however, provide a pay raise for 112 million hard-
working Americans who deserve a living wage. Tomorrow, Senator Daschle, 
I, and others will seek to add the minimum wage as an amendment to the 
DOD authorization bill. This is not the course we would prefer to take, 
but the Republican leadership of the Senate leaves us no choice.
  More than a year ago, I joined Senator Daschle in introducing S. 413, 
a bill that would have raised the minimum wage by 45 cents in July 1995 
and again this July for a total raise of 90 cents, bringing the minimum 
wage up to $5.15 an hour. We could not get a hearing on S. 413 in the 
Labor Committee, so on July 31, I offered a sense-of-the-Senate 
resolution calling on the Senate to consider the minimum wage increase 
before the end of the year. The resolution was defeated 48 to 49.

  In October, unable to have so much as a hearing on the minimum wage, 
we tried again. Senator Kerry, my colleague, offered a sense-of-the-
Senate resolution again, which was blocked by a Republican procedural 
maneuver. But we got a majority in favor, 51 to 48. We finally got a 
hearing in December, but no markup was scheduled. Finally, with the 
real value of the minimum wage continuing to fall and no relief for 
low-wage workers in sight, we offered an amendment to raise the minimum 
wage on the parks bill this past April and filed cloture; 55 Senators 
voted for cloture and 45 against.
  It is clear from that vote, and the one last October, that a majority 
of Senators want to see the minimum wage increased, but they have been 
frustrated by the Republican leadership. Time after time, we have tried 
to bring up this critical legislation, but the Republican leadership 
has been willing to tie up the Senate for 10 days at a time to prevent 
it. Then on May 23, the House passed a minimum wage increase by a huge 
margin, 266 to 162. That bill came over from the House, and the 
majority leader--then Bob Dole, and now Senator Lott--has refused to 
allow its consideration as a clean bill.
  This is now our last opportunity to have the minimum wage increase 
considered before the day it is supposed to take effect, July 4. If the 
Senate does not act now, it will be turning its back on 12 million 
Americans, who are counting on the Congress to do the right thing for 
them and their families.
  Tomorrow, June 25, marks the 58th anniversary of Franklin Roosevelt's 
signing of the first minimum wage bill. The minimum wage in the bill 
President Roosevelt signed established the wage at 25 cents an hour. In 
1938, as today, Republicans were opposed to the minimum wage. But, 
ultimately, the good sense of the Congress prevailed.
  It is entirely fitting that, tomorrow, Senator Daschle, our 
Democratic leader, will seek, once again, to bring the minimum wage 
increase to the floor, and I hope the Republican leadership will not 
block that effort. If it does, we will not give up. We will seek to 
offer the minimum wage to every bill on the Senate floor and, 
ultimately, I believe we will prevail, as Franklin Roosevelt did 58 
years ago.

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