[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 16]
[House]
[Page 22998]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]


[[Page 22998]]

   IT IS TIME TO RETHINK THE MINIMUM WAGE AND GIVE STATES FLEXIBILITY

  (Mr. DeMINT asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. DeMINT. Mr. Speaker, as we begin to talk about the minimum wage 
in the coming weeks, our first priority should be to improve the lives 
of American workers. Although we may disagree on how to do this, we 
should all recognize the important role that States play in this 
debate. Our States are all different. Nearly every economic measure 
that we track varies by State: The cost of living, unemployment rates, 
tax burdens, welfare caseloads, and average wages. Yet the Federal 
Government still has a one-size-fits-all wage policy that supposedly 
works as well in Arkansas as it does in New York.
  Mr. Speaker, a State flexibility approach to the minimum wage would 
address these differences by allowing each governor and State 
legislature to play a role in determining the appropriate increase for 
their State. State flexibility is not about whether or not we raise the 
minimum wage but it is about who raises it. I urge my colleagues to 
help secure the future for American workers by sending these decisions 
back home.

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