[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 98 (Friday, July 11, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7302-S7303]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. KENNEDY:
  S. 1009. A bill to amend the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 to 
increase the Federal minimum wage; to the Committee on Labor and Human 
Resources.


                 legislation to raise the minimum wage

  Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, today, we renew the battle for a fair 
minimum wage. Last year, after an unacceptable lag of 5 years, Congress 
enacted legislation to raise the minimum wage, which had shamefully 
been allowed to fall below acceptable levels and was no longer a living 
wage for the 10 million Americans who rely on it for their income.
  We all remember the battle in the last Congress. For over 18 months, 
Republican Senators, newly in the majority, stalled action on any 
increase. The irresponsibility and unfairness of that obstruction 
became increasingly obvious, and the opponents became increasingly 
nervous about their position. Public support for a fair increase in the 
minimum wage finally became overwhelming. As the 1996 elections came 
closer, the obstructionists surrendered--and a fair two-step increase 
was signed into law by President Clinton last August. Under that 
legislation, the minimum wage rose from $4.25 an hour to $4.75 an hour 
on October 1, 1996, and it will rise to $5.15 an hour on September 1 
this year.
  Current law stops there. No further increases will take effect unless 
Congress acts again. It is time for us to do so now, in order to 
guarantee that further fair increases take place in the years ahead.
  Today, therefore, I am introducing legislation to provide increases 
of 50 cents an hour in each of the next 3 years and increases of 30 
cents an hour in each of the following 2 years--to $5.65 an hour on 
September 1, 1998, to $6.15 an hour on September 1, 1999, to $6.65 an 
hour on September 1, 2000, to $6.95 an hour on September 1, 2001, and 
to $7.25 an hour on September 1, 2002.
  At a time when Congress is making many other decisions on taxing and 
spending over the next 5 years, it is entirely appropriate that we act 
on the minimum wage over the 5-year budget period, too.
  The increases I am proposing are based on a simple principle. Intense 
Republican opposition to raising the minimum wage during the 8 years of 
the Reagan administration, and periodic opposition during the past 7 
years, have left the real value of the minimum wage far below the 
levels it had in the previous 40 years. The bill introduced today will 
restore the purchasing power of the minimum wage to the level it had 
when the Reagan administration came to power.
  The experience with the 50-cent increase that went into effect for 
the minimum wage last October refutes the doomsday predictions that 
opponents have always raised whenever Congress considers a fair 
increase. A study released today by the Economic Policy Institute sums 
up the experience of the past 9 months. As the title of the study 
states, ``The Sky Hasn't Fallen'' because of the increase.

[[Page S7303]]

  The study documents several clear facts about last year's increase: 
It raised wages for 4 million workers; 66 percent of these are adults, 
and 58 percent are women.
  Some 40 percent of the increase went to families in the bottom 20 
percent of the income scale, whose earnings average $14,000 a year; 55 
percent of the increase went to families in the bottom 40 percent of 
the income scale, who earn $30,000 a year or less.
  Contrary to opponents' claims, the increase did not primarily go to 
teenagers in part-time jobs after school.
  There was no significant effect on employment of adults, minorities, 
teenagers or anyone else. The crocodile tears shed for these groups by 
opponents of the minimum wage have no basis in fact.
  The bottom line is clear. Employment does not go down because the 
minimum wage goes up. The overall conditions of the economy determine 
the levels of employment for all sectors of the work force. Reasonable 
increases in the minimum wage have no significant effect on these 
levels.
  Even the Wall Street Journal threw in the towel, and it did so soon 
after the increase last October took effect. An article published on 
November 20, 1996 was headlined ``Fears Over Raising the Minimum Wage 
Appear Unfounded.'' And the facts since then have amply verified that 
statement.
  Raising the minimum wage was the right thing for Congress to do last 
year, and it's the right thing for Congress to do this year. No one who 
works for a living should have to live in poverty. Everyone who works 
for a living deserves a living wage. I urge the Senate and the House to 
act expeditiously on the legislation I am introducing today.
  Mr. President, I ask unanimous Consent that the text of the bill be 
printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the bill was ordered to be printed in the 
Record, as follows:

                                S. 1009

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

       This Act may be cited as the ``American Family Fair Minimum 
     Wage Act of 1997''.

     SEC. 2. MINIMUM WAGE INCREASE.

       Paragraph (1) of section 6(a) of the Fair Labor Standards 
     Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. 206 (a)(1)) is amended to read as 
     follows:
       ``(1) except as otherwise provided in this section not less 
     than
       ``(A) $5.65 an hour during the year beginning on September 
     1, 1998;
       ``(B) $6.15 an hour during the year beginning on September 
     1, 1999;
       ``(C) $6.65 an hour during the year beginning on September 
     1, 2000;
       ``(D) $6.95 an hour during the year beginning on September 
     1, 2001; and
       ``(E) $7.25 an hour during the year beginning on September 
     1, 2002.
                                 ______