OFFICIALS LEGISLATION INTEREST GROUPS PUBLIC STATEMENTS COMMITTEES VETOES

Raise the Minimum Wage

Date: June 22, 2006
Location: Washington, DC
Issues: Unemployed and Low-Income


RAISE THE MINIMUM WAGE

Mr. CARNAHAN. Mr. Speaker, this Congress has been consumed with giving tax breaks for the wealthiest Americans, and it is time we look at some of the average Americans and facts about the minimum wage.

Congress has not raised the minimum wage since 1997. The minimum wage is now at its lowest level in 50 years adjusted for inflation. Does anyone really believe it is possible to make even the most basic ends meet on $5.15 an hour? A minimum-wage worker working full time all year will earn just $10,700. It takes a full day's pay for a minimum wage earner to pay for one tank of gas today.

6.6 million people will benefit from a rise in the minimum wage. Eighty-six percent of Americans support the rise in a minimum wage according to a Pugh poll in December of 2005. It is time this Congress listened to the American people and minimum-wage workers, and it is time that we act

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