[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 82 (Thursday, June 12, 1997)]
[House]
[Pages H3790-H3791]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 ATTEMPTS DURING BUDGET NEGOTIATIONS TO COME THROUGH THE BACK DOOR ON 
                  ISSUES OF WORKER PAY AND PROTECTIONS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from California [Ms. Waters] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Ms. WATERS. Mr. Speaker, I rise to bring to the attention of this 
House the fact that we have some actions that are going on as we 
attempt to bring together this budget and to reconcile the differences 
in the deliberations that have gone on, attempts to come through the 
back door on some very important issues.
  I am very concerned about attempts to treat welfare recipients who 
are would-be welfare workers differently than we treat other workers in 
America's workplace. I am concerned that there is an attempt to pay 
welfare workers less than minimum wage. I am also concerned that there 
is an attempt to deny workplace protections for recipients who go to 
work. I am also concerned that along with these two mean-spirited 
denials of protections in the workplace we find an attempt to deny 
protection from discrimination.
  One would ask, how could this be in 1997, when all of these gains 
that have been made are gains that were hard fought for, gains that 
individuals made tremendous sacrifices for? How could we in 1997 have 
attempts to turn back the clock?
  We know that in the last Congress there were some attempts by 
Republicans to deny an increase in minimum wage. That issue was hotly 
debated. We had the American public join in that debate in ways that we 
have not had the American public involved in in a long time. We engaged 
the citizens of this country in that debate. The citizens spoke in a 
loud and clear voice.
  What did they say to us? They said, not only do we want an increase 
in minimum wage, we want the American people to be paid fairly for 
their labor. We do not think this increase is enough. We think it 
should be more. We do not like the fact that major CEO's in America are 
making a million dollars while there is an attempt to continue to 
squeeze the workers at the bottom. We do not like the fact that entry-
level wages have gone down. We do not like the fact that more and more 
Americans are on part-time labor. We do not like the fact that American 
workers are going to the negotiating table, not fighting for increases, 
but are forced to have to fight to hold onto the gains that have been 
made historically.
  So the American people spoke, and they spoke loud and clear. When the 
American people spoke, we discovered that even some of those on the 
other side of the aisle who had been attempting to deny this increase 
in minimum wage got the message. They got the message and they joined 
with us in the final analysis and supported the increase in minimum 
wage.
  I thought all of the Republicans had learned a lesson. I thought they 
had heard the American public. But obviously that is not the case, 
because what we see now is a back-door attempt, a back-door attempt to 
not only deny that increase that we made for low-wage workers, but an 
attempt to single out a category of workers and pay them less than the 
minimum wage. What they could not do in the front door they are now 
trying to do through the back door.
  What they are literally doing is sending a message out to workers, 
many of them who only make minimum wages, your job is in jeopardy. Your 
job is in jeopardy because we have found a whole new class of people 
that we are

[[Page H3791]]

going to pay less than what we are paying you, so all of those low-wage 
workers, all of those people working for minimum wage in many of our 
industries, in our restaurants, in our hotels and places, we have a 
Republican Congress that is trying to create workers who make even less 
than they make.
  I want the American public to pay attention as we fight this battle. 
We are going to stand up for low-wage workers. We are not going to 
allow this back-door attempt. I would like for the American public to 
stay tuned in to this battle. In the final analysis, if they join with 
us, we can win again.

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