[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 35, Number 45 (Monday, November 15, 1999)]
[Page 2310]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Statement on Minimum Wage Legislation

November 9, 1999

    The Senate Republican leadership made a serious mistake by insisting 
on using a minimum wage increase as a cynical tool to advance special 
interest tax breaks that aren't paid for and do little to help working 
families. I cannot let this bill become law in its current form. I once 
again call on Congress to give working American families the pay raise 
they deserve. Congress should pass clean legislation that boosts the 
minimum wage by one dollar over the next 2 years and simply restores the 
value of the minimum wage to what it was in 1982. American workers 
deserve no less.