[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 25 (Wednesday, March 8, 2000)]
[House]
[Page H738]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    MINIMUM WAGE AND ECONOMIC GROWTH

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Tancredo). Under a previous order of the 
House, the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Foley) is recognized for 5 
minutes.
  Mr. FOLEY. Mr. Speaker, I want to first mention to the gentlewoman 
from Texas who just spoke, it was in fact a senior member of the 
Democratic caucus that may have derailed the efforts on gun safety that 
she claims today on the floor.
  I would also like to strongly suggest that we keep talking about the 
NRA as if they are somehow responsible for the deaths around this 
country. Last I checked, none of the crimes committed were perpetrated 
by a member of the NRA. Now, we can have different positions on this 
issue, but how anyone can think for a minute that that crackhead, where 
that gun was found and that young innocent life was snuffed out by a 
gun, would have put a trigger lock on their gun, is beyond me.
  Mr. Speaker, that is not what I am here to speak to, however. I do 
not want to talk about this issue. We do need to debate it in fairness. 
We will have an opportunity to have this debate, but I want to strongly 
urge Members once again not to point fingers or accuse groups, whether 
it is the NRA or Hollywood, for the decline of values in America. Let 
us talk constructively on trying to make something that will work, that 
people will obey and abide by. Let us construct a law that will have 
some teeth for those criminals who are violating the law.
  I applaud the President on his efforts to increase funding for ATF, 
to increase the outreach to find out who is selling guns illegally. 
There are a lot of things we can do. But let us not sit here and point 
fingers and say it is the Republicans or it is the Democrats, it is 
that or that. It is too serious of an issue.
  Let me also rise today to talk about an issue that is coming to the 
floor tomorrow, and that is on minimum wage and the economic growth act 
that we will be discussing tomorrow.
  The President said clearly today that it should be a clean bill and 
it should not have amendments. But I would urge the President once 
again to at least tone down the rhetoric and discuss this in a very 
fair manner.
  I can assure all of America that members of the Republican Party have 
in fact been meeting in good faith to try to structure a bill that will 
in fact increase the minimum wage. I commend people like the gentleman 
from New York (Mr. Quinn), the gentleman from New York (Mr. Lazio), the 
gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Shimkus), and others who have been working 
constructively to find a way to increase incomes for those at minimum 
wage.
  I was involved in a restaurant. I owned a small business. I 
understand full well the impact of increasing expenses, such as 
payroll, through minimum wage increases. But at the same time I 
recognize that with rising gas prices, insurance costs, health care, it 
is probably timely that we look to seek to raise the level of people 
who are in fact working at minimum wage.
  Let me also suggest to the President that we can in fact come to some 
kind of agreement here today or tomorrow and discuss this with some 
clarity. Raising the minimum wage will in fact cost small businesses 
money. What is the solution? Offset the cost with some benefits that we 
could structure, that are targeted, that are reasonable, that will be 
effective to not only assisting the low-income worker on minimum wage 
but helping the business owner meet the obligation of continuing to 
provide things for his community, his family.
  We could accelerate the increase in the self-employment health 
insurance deduction to 100 percent. That would help insure more people 
and provide a good write-off for that business owner. We could increase 
section 179 expensing. We could raise the business meal deduction. As a 
restaurant owner, raising meal deductions would in fact incentivize 
people to come to eat in a restaurant, would increase income, and would 
allow the employer to increase minimum wage through that effort.
  Real estate tax relief is in the bill tomorrow that we can talk 
about. Tax credits encouraging the move from welfare to work. Getting 
people off of welfare into the workplace. This is something that would 
extend work opportunity tax credits. So there are some very, very good 
things in this bill. Tax relief for America's farmers and ranchers. 
Death tax relief.
  The bill is constructed in such a way that I think, if we can talk 
logically and fairly, we can find an increase in minimum wage over 3 
years, we can provide some relief and incentives for small businesses, 
and we can go away making a lot of people happy.
  Regrettably, though, I hear the word bipartisan used around here a 
lot. If they would only work in a bipartisan manner, we would solve 
this issue. But that only assumes that one side agrees 100 percent with 
the other side's argument. Nowhere can we disagree without being 
accused of being obstructionists, stalling or doing those types of 
things. I would suggest to my colleagues that we could in fact work 
very clearly and quickly on this very, very important issue.
  We want to help Americans, but I will also say that 1.2 percent of 
the American work force is at minimum wage. Those that are on minimum 
wage are usually just starting their job, or teenagers seeking their 
first jobs. Yes, I agree, and I said it before, I will vote to increase 
over 3 years a dollar per hour because I think it is important and it 
is warranted. But make no mistake about it, those people who are 
successfully fulfilling their jobs in the workplace are exceeding 
minimum wage because employers need employees and they will pay in 
order to retain good qualified workers.

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