[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 12]
[House]
[Page 16118]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                            THE MINIMUM WAGE

  (Mr. McGOVERN asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, the Federal minimum wage has been stuck at 
$5.15 for 9 years. A minimum-wage worker working full time earns about 
$10,712 a year. A minimum-wage worker has to work an entire day in 
order to be able to afford to fill their tank with gas.
  Mr. Speaker, Members of Congress have awarded themselves eight pay 
raises since the last time we increased the Federal minimum wage. That 
is about $35,000 in pay raises.
  Mr. Speaker, 35 percent of workers who receive a minimum wage are 
their families' sole earners. Sixty-one percent are women and one-third 
of those women are raising children.
  Here is the deal, I say to my Republican colleagues: have a heart. 
And if you are not going to allow us to have a clean vote up or down on 
the minimum wage, then bring to the floor a bill that repeals your pay 
raise. It is not right for Members of Congress to get a pay raise while 
they force millions of Americans to continue to live in poverty.

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