[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 75 (Wednesday, June 4, 1997)]
[House]
[Pages H3278-H3279]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 WORKFARE PROVISIONS OF WELFARE REFORM

  (Mrs. MEEK of Florida asked and was given permission to address the 
House for 1 minute.)
  Mrs. MEEK of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I rise to bring attention to the 
workfare provisions of the welfare reform. Welfare recipients who must 
work for their benefits under the new welfare reform law must be 
protected by existing Federal labor laws.
  When the welfare reform bill was passed, Congress gave very little 
guidance to the States for determining how they would apply existing 
employment laws to welfare recipients. As a result of it, many States 
are going off the handle trying to determine how they are going to work 
with the labor laws. We never said that, the Congress never said that 
the Fair Labor Standards Act, including minimum wage provisions, 
applied to welfare recipients. Welfare recipients in work programs 
should indeed earn the minimum wage.
  There are some people, Mr. Speaker, who want to overturn that 
decision. They think it is OK for people who are on welfare to make 
less than the minimum wage. I say to this Congress that people who are 
on welfare and going into work deserve the minimum wage. Welfare 
recipients deserve the dignity of equal treatment with their fellow 
workers. The minimum wage does that. They are entitled to the 
protections of the wage and hour laws. They are not second class 
citizens. Minimum wages are not inflated wages. They are decent wages, 
Mr. Speaker.

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