[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 13]
[House]
[Pages 18749-18750]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                           RAISE MINIMUM WAGE

  (Mr. CROWLEY asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. CROWLEY. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to highlight an important 
issue that is currently being neglected by the House, the dire need for 
a raise in the minimum wage for our Nation's workers.
  Both sides of the aisle recognize the advantages of new legislation. 
For this reason I question our delay in moving forward. Our hesitation 
is leaving cupboards empty as American families struggle unnecessarily.
  Today's minimum wage leaves families at 19 percent below the 
equivalent 1979 poverty level. There is no excuse for this abhorrent 
fact to continue into the year 2000.

                              {time}  1015

  An increase in the minimum wage gives us the unique opportunity to 
give gifts of security and comfort to the American people. I believe 
that by stalling on this pertinent issue, we are directly denying our 
constituents the chance to live the American Dream.
  Opponents of increasing the minimum wage would have us believe an 
increase in the minimum wage would cause employees to lay off workers; 
that it would hurt the poorest workers and destroy the economy. But I 
ask,

[[Page 18750]]

did any of these things happen when we raised the minimum wage to $5.15 
in 1998? As our economy is still strong and unemployment low, clearly 
none of these negative predictions came to be after the legislation 
went into effect.
  Mr. Speaker, I insist we revisit the issue of raising the minimum 
wage. The American worker is depending on all of us.

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