Date: 1995-10-24
Speaker: GENE GREEN (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Mr. Speaker. I rise tonight in support of the minimum wage increase. and later this evening the gentleman from New York. MAJOR OWENS. has organized a special order in support of the minimum wage. I join my colleagues from the Committee on Economic and Educational Opportunities in my support for an increase in the minimum wage. Fifty seven years ago today the Congress first approved a minimum wage of 25 cents. This anniversary finds us with mixed emotions. On the one hand. we are thankful that the Congress recognized the need to guarantee a livable wage. On the other hand. we recognize that millions of people earn at or below the minimum wage and that the last increase in the minimum wage occurred on April 1. 1991. As if this was not enough. the real value of the minimum wage has been on a fairly steady decline for the past 15 years. Today. the minimum wage has fallen 45 cents in real value since its 1991 increase. I am afraid that if the majority party has its way. we may never see an increase in the minimum wage. Many people. writing or speaking on either side of this issue. quote from 57 years of studies on how the increase of the minimum wage affects employment. wages and the economy. There are studies on both sides. My contention is we should base the argument on the facts and not theory. Based on my experience. real life is never constant nor completely equal. First. the idea that an increase in the minimum wage could lead to increased numbers of welfare recipients is simply not correct. In fact. the opposite is true. Today. a fulltime minimum wage worker is paid $8.800 a year. The U.S. Census reports that the average family in my Houston district is 3.2 people. According to the census guidelines published in the Federal Register [February 9. 1995]. the 1995 Federal poverty level for a family of three -is $12.590. Using these facts. the math is simple. A fulltime minimum wage worker supporting a family of three will make almost $4.000 less than the Federal poverty level. However. with an increase in the minimum wage to $5.15. and figuring in their maximum earned income tax credit. which was passed by the Democratic Congress. this same family would be $1.500 above the poverty rate and off welfare. Let me repeat that. Off welfare. It is also argued that the minimum wage is a wage for lower- to middleclass teenagers and is. therefore. an entry level wage. While this may have been so in years past. the Federal Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that more than 4 million Americans earn at or below the minimum wage. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. current minimumwage earners are twothirds adult. with over 50 percent being 26 or older. while 62 percent are women. The minimum wage is no longer just for teenagers. Finally. the argument is made that raising the minimum wage would lead many employers to use more efficient machines. to relocate their factories. or to use parttime and temporary workers. Statistics show that minimumwage earners. due to their lack of skills. work harder and longer hours to compensate for that shortcoming. I am not advocating the position that employers are unfeeling. but we must all face the fact that most employers. with some exceptions. are driven by the bottom line and not the betterment of society. One recent study between New Jersey. which raised their minimum wage. and Pennsylvania. which did not. showed no job loss and only a very slight increase in the cost of a fast food meal. I find it very confusing when the majority argues the minimum wage increase will cause job loss by increasing or continuing farm subsidies is never given to the same rhetoric. Both the farm subsidies and the minimum wage provide a level at which the producer. either farm produce or labor. can earn a profit. Americans need an increase in the minimum wage. because it will lift them out of poverty. it will give them a living wage. but more importantly. it will get them off of welfare. Instead of concentrating all of their efforts on taxcuts for the wealthy. the majority should act to provide a minimum wage that will lift workers out of poverty and off the welfare rolls.