[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 1]
[House]
[Page 744]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                         PASS MINIMUM WAGE ACT

  (Ms. LORETTA SANCHEZ of California asked and was given permission to 
address the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. LORETTA SANCHEZ of California. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in 
strong support of H.R. 2, the Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2007, and I am 
glad it will pass today in the House of Representatives, because for 
too long the disparity between the wealthiest and the poor has been 
going on and continuing to grow in America. And it is in no small part 
due to the Republicans not raising the minimum wage in almost 10 years.
  Imagine this, you work for $5.15 an hour. You work all year round, 
and not your take-home pay but your gross pay is $10,700. That is 
$6,000 below the poverty level for a family of three every year.
  The minimum wage has not gone up. Real income, the buying power of 
the dollar has gone down for Americans. And the cost of health 
insurance, of gasoline, of home heating, of tuition at college has gone 
up by $5,000 since the year 2000. So this is an important law to pass 
today.

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