[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 3]
[House]
[Page 3759]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                         RAISE THE MINIMUM WAGE

  (Mr. PALLONE asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, Republicans in the Senate yesterday showed 
that they have no interest in helping millions of working families who 
clock 40 hours a week at their jobs for the minimum wage. Today, 
millions of hard-working Americans are working harder for less and less 
money.
  Since the minimum wage has not increased in 8 years, these workers' 
paychecks are simply not increasing as the cost of living increases 
every year. Because congressional Republicans refuse to act, the real 
value of the minimum wage is not worth nearly as much as past minimum 
wages.
  Consider that if a minimum wage this year provided the same wage to 
workers today, including cost-of-living adjustments, as it provided to 
workers in 1968, the minimum wage today would be $8.88 per hour, rather 
than $5.15 per hour. That is a big difference, and I believe working 
families living on the minimum wage feel the pinch every day.
  Raising the minimum wage also raises the wages of all low-income 
workers, not just those below the poverty line. Mr. Speaker, Americans 
who work 40 hours a week should not be living in poverty. It is time 
congressional Republicans in both Houses join us in supporting an 
increase in the minimum wage.

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