[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 12]
[House]
[Page 16369]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




              WE MUST MAKE THE MINIMUM WAGE A LIVING WAGE

  (Mr. AL GREEN of Texas asked and was given permission to address the 
House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. AL GREEN of Texas. Madam Speaker, today the minimum wage will 
increase to $6.55 an hour. This is laudable. However, Madam Speaker, if 
the truth be told, the increase will be consumed because of inflation, 
higher gas prices, and higher food prices.
  Madam Speaker, we must make the minimum wage a living wage. This is 
why I have introduced the Living American Wage Act, the LAW Act, such 
that we can have people who work full time always live above the 
poverty line.
  We have people in the richest country in the world, a country where 1 
out of every 33 persons is a millionaire, we have people living in 
poverty and working full time. No one should work full time and live 
below the poverty line.
  We need to pass the Living American Wage Act, the LAW Act. The living 
wage should be the law.

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