[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 66 (Wednesday, May 18, 2005)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5451-S5452]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




           MEASURES READ THE FIRST TIME--S. 1061 AND S. 1062

  Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I understand that there are two bills at 
the desk, and I ask for their first reading en bloc.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will read the titles of the bills 
for the first time en bloc.
  The legislative clerk read as follows:

       A bill (S. 1061) to provide for secondary school reform, 
     and for other purposes.
       A bill (S. 1062) to amend the Fair Labor Standards Act of 
     1938 to provide for an increase in the Federal minimum wage.

  Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I now ask for a second reading and, in 
order to place the bills on the calendar under the provisions of rule 
XIV, I object to my own request, all en bloc.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Objection is heard.
  The bills will receive their second reading on the next legislative 
day.


                                s. 1062

  Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, it has now been 8 long years since the 
Nation's hardworking men and women had an increase in the minimum wage. 
The essence of the American dream is that if people work hard and play 
by the rules they can succeed in life and support their families. But 
for millions of hardworking Americans earning the minimum wage, that 
dream has become a cruel hoax. An American who works full time, year-
round at the current minimum wage of $5.15 an hour earns $10,700 a 
year--$5,000 below the poverty line for a family of three. The minimum 
wage is too low.
  Today Congressman George Miller and I are introducing the Fair 
Minimum Wage Act of 2005 to raise the minimum wage to $7.25 an hour in 
three steps over the next 2 years. This increase will directly raise 
the pay of

[[Page S5452]]

seven and a half million workers, and indirectly benefit eight million 
more. Sixty-one percent of the beneficiaries are women, and one-third 
of those women are mothers. More than a third are people of color.
  Two new reports emphasize the urgency of this increase for millions 
of low-wage Americans and their families. The Children's Defense Fund 
reports that a single parent working full time at the current minimum 
wage earns enough to cover only 40 percent of the cost of raising two 
children. Nearly 10 million children live in households that would 
benefit from the increase we are proposing.
  A report from the Center for Economic Policy Research shows that 
minimum wage jobs are not just entry-level jobs for teenagers, contrary 
to what we often hear from opponents of the minimum wage. A third of 
minimum wage earners from ages 25 to 54 will still be earning the 
minimum wage 3 years later. Only 40 percent of them will have moved out 
of the low-wage workforce 3 years later.
  No matter how hard they work, minimum wage workers are forced each 
day to make impossible choices--between paying the rent and buying 
groceries, or between paying the heating bill and buying clothes. These 
hardworking Americans have earned a raise and they deserve a raise. No 
one who works for a living should have to live in poverty.

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