[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 146 (2000), Part 2]
[House]
[Page 2498]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                              MINIMUM WAGE

  (Mr. GREEN of Texas asked and was given permission to address the 
House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. GREEN of Texas. Mr. Speaker, last week the Republican majority 
and the Democratic minority passed with no negative votes the removal 
of caps on the Social Security earnings. But it seems the Republican 
majority did not learn how to pass legislation on a bipartisan basis. 
Today we have a Frankenstein piece of legislation. None of the parts 
fit together. Even the names do not fit. Bipartisan legislation should 
be what is on this floor, but instead we have a budget-busting tax cut 
that does not even help small business.
  I support a minimum-wage increase. The Republican proposal falls 
short of meeting the needs of the American family. The Republican 
leadership is more willing to push a budget-busting, debt-increasing 
$123 billion tax cut that will go to the top 1 percent than to help 
American small business with a reasonable tax cut.
  We are presently enjoying one of the strongest economies ever, but 
the benefits are not flowing fairly to both the working people but also 
to the small business. We need to bring legislation to this floor that 
provides a real pay increase and a tax package that is sensible and 
responsible, not one that is just going to increase our debt. 
Hopefully, we will see the error of our ways and reject this 
Frankenstein piece of legislation.

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