Minimum Wage

MINIMUM WAGE -- (House of Representatives - June 20, 2006)

Ms. LINDA T. SÁNCHEZ of California. Mr. Speaker, this week the Labor-H appropriations bill was supposed to be on the floor, but at the last minute, the House Republican leadership stripped the bill from the schedule. It appears that the GOP is delaying a vote on this bill solely because it includes an increase in the minimum wage.

The minimum wage is now at its lowest point in half a century. Last week the Appropriations Committee voted to gradually increase the minimum wage. This increase will provide a much-needed boost to 7 million Americans, hard-working people who get up every morning and go to work.

It is unfortunate that for almost a decade the Republican leadership has been forcing working families to make impossible choices, choices between paying the rent and buying groceries or between paying the heating bill and buying much-needed prescription medication.

An increase in the minimum wage is about fairness, and that is why the American people overwhelmingly support an increase. Now that the House Appropriations Committee has acted, it is time for the Republican leadership to bring this bill up for a vote.

Mr. Speaker, the American people have had enough of not having enough to get by.

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