[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 7 (Friday, January 12, 2007)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E88]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     FAIR MINIMUM WAGE ACT OF 2007

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                               speech of

                          HON. EDOLPHUS TOWNS

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, January 10, 2007

  Mr. TOWNS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in the name of fairness and 
justice. American families who rely on the Federal minimum wage are 
struggling to make ends meet. Over the last decade, our poorest-paid 
workers have faced rapidly rising costs in health care, energy, and 
college while the minimum wage has remained the same.
  H.R. 2, the Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2007, would increase the Federal 
minimum to $7.25 an hour. At $5.15 per hour, the current Federal 
minimum, a person working 40 hours per week makes $10,712 per year, 
about $5,000 below the poverty line for a family of three. I ask you, 
can you imagine taking care of your family much less yourself with 
that? In addition, millions of workers paid just a dollar or two more 
than the minimum also live in poverty. An increase to $7.25 will have a 
spillover effect that could raise wages for many of those workers. 
Ladies and gentlemen, the time for an increase is long overdue.
  Critics claim that increasing the minimum wage will have a negative 
effect on the economy, but after the last minimum wage increase in 
1997, the economy enjoyed its strongest growth in more than three 
decades. This Congress was elected in a large part because our economy 
has not benefited the working poor as much as those at the high end of 
the pay scale. H.R. 2 is a first step and I encourage my colleagues to 
support the bill.

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