[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 20]
[Senate]
[Page 29419]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                      INCREASING THE MINIMUM WAGE

  Mr. SANTORUM. Mr. President, I would like to take a moment to discuss 
the amendment offered by Senator Domenici, Senator Abraham, and myself 
to raise the minimum wage. I cosponsored this proposal because I 
believe it represents a fair, sensible compromise.
  In raising the minimum wage, it is imperative that we do not hurt the 
very people we are trying to help. Increasing the minimum wage always 
carries the risks of hindering job growth, cutting off opportunities 
for entry level workers, or displacing current workers. These risks are 
a real concern to me. In my view, any increase in the minimum wage must 
be accompanied by measures that will negate possible unintended 
negative effects on workers and businesses.
  I believe the Domenici amendment offers a reasonable way to help 
workers and businesses by coupling the wage increase with tax relief 
that will help small businesses offset the additional costs. I would 
like to highlight a few of the ways this amendment creates a win-win 
situation for workers and small businesses. First, our amendment 
provides a one dollar increase in the minimum wage, which will be 
phased in incrementally over the next three years. Currently, the 
federal minimum wage is $5.15 per hour. Our amendment raises the 
minimum wage to $5.50 per hour in 2000, to $5.85 per hour in 2001, and 
to $6.15 per hour in 2002. It also includes reforms to expand pension 
coverage, particularly for employees of small businesses. These 
provisions enhance fairness for women, increase portability for plan 
participants, strengthen pension security and enforcement, and 
streamline regulatory requirements. Likewise, our proposal permanently 
extends the Work Opportunity Tax Credit, which gives employers an 
incentive to hire people receiving public assistance. This program 
helps people who have fallen on hard times to move back into the 
workplace. A section of our proposal that I am particularly proud of 
allows self-employed individuals to deduct 100 percent of their health 
insurance costs as early as next year. Under current law, hard working 
men and women must wait until 2003 before they can fully deduct their 
health insurance costs. This measure puts small business owners, 
farmers, and other hard working men and women struggling to get their 
businesses off the ground on a level playing field with large 
corporations, who already enjoy full deductions for healthcare. I have 
fought for this parity throughout my tenure in Congress, and I thank 
Senator Domenici for including it in this amendment.
  Mr. President, our amendment is a compromise package. It is a good 
faith attempt to help low-income workers without penalizing their 
employers or causing unintended job displacement. We believe the tax 
relief and pension reforms in this bill will help small businesses and 
mitigate possible adverse effects of raising the minimum wage.
  Once again, I thank Senator Domenici for his hard work on this 
amendment.

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