[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 100 (Tuesday, July 9, 1996)]
[House]
[Pages H7119-H7120]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       INCREASE THE MINIMUM WAGE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of May 
12, 1995, the gentleman from New Jersey [Mr. Pallone] is recognized 
during morning business for 5 minutes.
  Mr. PALLONE. Madam Speaker, I just wanted to make reference to my 
colleague, who I greatly respect, who just spoke from the other side of 
the aisle to point out that we continue to see many Republicans, and 
most importantly I would say the Republican leadership here in the 
House, and to some extent also in the Senate, that continue to oppose 
raising the minimum wage. Although I respect what my colleague from 
Nebraska has said, I

[[Page H7120]]

think it is very wrong to suggest that somehow raising the minimum wage 
is not going to help the average American wage earner who lives on it.
  The bottom line is that we have seen over and over again, and most 
importantly in my home State of New Jersey, where the minimum wage was 
raised a few years ago to the level that we are now or somewhat close 
to the level that we are now proposing in Congress, and the result was 
that minimum wage workers actually had their wages increased, were able 
to go out and buy more goods, and more services had to be provided to 
them. Jobs in the State of New Jersey actually increased so that there 
were more economic opportunities, more work opportunities for jobs 
created in our State because of the increase in the minimum wage.
  So this notion that somehow raising the minimum wage is going to 
decrease jobs and put people on the street and not help those who are 
now dependent on the minimum wage, I think is just a false issue. 
Clearly, the statistics show that that is a false issue.
  I think this is important today because on the other side of the 
Capitol, in the Senate, they will be taking up the minimum wage. I am 
hopeful that crippling amendments that are being proposed again by 
various Republicans, that would create huge loopholes in the increase 
in the minimum wage for certain workers, that these crippling 
amendments do not pass, because over the last 6 months and over the 
last year the American people have basically been petitioning Congress 
and stating over and over again they they want an increase in the 
minimum wage.
  That is the only reason that this is being brought to the floor of 
the Senate today, not because of the Republican leadership, who 
consistently opposed it here in the House and in the Senate, but 
because the American people have spoken out and said they want an 
increase. They want a livable wage for people who are working at a 
minimum wage level.
  It would be a shame if crippling amendments, mostly coming from big 
business, were to pass. That would exempt a lot of workers in various 
categories from this minimum wage increase. I hope that that does not 
happen.
  Madam Speaker, I have been outraged from the very beginning at the 
constant effort by the Republican leadership here in the House to deny 
millions of working Americans the opportunity to earn a livable wage. 
We have had a debate in the House, and now the same debate is happening 
in the Senate, with two constant themes.
  First is that Republicans will do everything they can to fight for 
big business special interests and try to water down a minimum wage 
increase. It is the Democrats who continue to fight for the hard-
working Americans who need an increase in the minimum wage to provide 
for their families.
  Madam Speaker, the Republican leadership has used many different 
schemes and ploys to fight an increase in the minimum wage. First was 
the majority leader in the House who proposed doing away with the 
minimum wage altogether. Then in March of this year Republicans in the 
House used a parliamentary procedure to stop a vote calling for a 
modest increase in the minimum wage.

  But gradually, Americans all over the country began to put pressure 
on the Republican leadership here in the House to at least have a vote 
on the issue, to let the vote occur. The Republican leadership, 
however, continued to persist as long as they could in preventing a 
vote. But finally the so-called moderate wing of the Republican party, 
many of whom were from my home State or from the Northeast, broke with 
their leadership and expressed support for the Democratic proposal on 
the minimum wage.
  So we finally did have a vote, but if you listen to some of the 
dialog on the other side, if you listen to some of the ideology--as I 
said, some of it was expressed by my colleague from Nebraska today--you 
hear this constant theme that somehow this is not good for the average 
American.
  According to the majority whip in the House, no one is actually 
raising a family on the $4.25 an hour that is currently the minimum 
wage law. The majority whip used the addition of food stamps and the 
earned income tax credit to show that a single parent with two children 
could earn much more than the $8,800 a year that is provided for in the 
minimum wage.
  But the bottom line is that even with food stamps, even with the 
earned income tax credit, which many in the House Republican leadership 
oppose, it is very, very difficult if not impossible for someone today 
to live and raise a family on the minimum wage. That is why we need to 
have a vote on this issue, and that is why we need to have it passed in 
the Senate today, sent back to the House, and signed into law by the 
President, who supports the increase.

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