The Congressional Record is a unique source of public documentation. It started in 1873, documenting nearly all the major and minor policies being discussed and debated.
“MINIMUM WAGE AND BANKRUPTCY” mentioning the U.S. Dept of Labor was published in the Senate section on pages S11081 on Sept. 21, 1999.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
MINIMUM WAGE AND BANKRUPTCY
Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, last Thursday the majority leader filed a cloture motion on S. 625, the Bankruptcy Reform Act of 1999. If the Senate adopts cloture, an amendment to increase the minimum wage could not be offered to the bill. Some Senators may support cloture because they believe the minimum wage is not relevant to the bankruptcy debate, but I disagree. Raising the minimum wage is critical to preventing the economic free-fall that often leads to bankruptcy, and many of us have sponsored the Fair Minimum Wage Act of 1999 to begin to right that wrong.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The time of the Senator has expired.
Mr. KENNEDY. Is that all 15 minutes?
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The 10 minutes allotted to the Senator from Massachusetts.
Mr. KENNEDY. Then I yield to myself just 4 of the last 5 minutes, please.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator is recognized.
Mr. KENNEDY. I thank the Chair.
Mr. President, invoking cloture would deny us the opportunity, on the floor of the Senate, to offer a minimum wage amendment that will raise the minimum wage 50 cents next January and 50 cents the year after and provide some $2,000 of purchasing power for minimum wage workers. In all, over 11 million Americans will benefit from an increase in the minimum wage.
We seek to raise the minimum wage at a time of virtual price stability, at a time of virtual full employment, and at a time when the ink is not even dry on the vote by the Members of the Senate to give themselves a pay increase of over $4,000 this year. I will say, at least the Democrats who voted in support of that increase would also vote in support of an increase in the minimum wage. But why should we be denied that opportunity? Why should we be denied the opportunity to have a vote on this particular issue? It makes such a difference to families that work 40 hours a week, 52 weeks of the year.
We believe raising the minimum wage is relevant to the bankruptcy issue. The threat of bankruptcy is related to the availability of resources. The fewer financial resources individuals have, the more difficult it is for them to meet their economic challenges. We do not have the opportunity, at least at this time, to get into all of the reasons so many individual Americans are going into bankruptcy. But we find half of the women are in bankruptcy because their husbands refuse to pay child support. Of workers who are over 55, the greatest percentage of those in bankruptcy are there because they don't have health insurance. Many in bankruptcy are workers dislocated from their jobs because of mergers, who find themselves caught in a downward economic spiral.
We should have an opportunity to address those issues. Why does the Republican leadership deny us the chance to have a fair vote on raising the minimum wage, providing hard working Americans with an extra
$2,000? That might not seem like a lot to many here, but it is about 7 months' worth of groceries for a family, or 5 months of rent. It will pay for almost two years of tuition for a worker or her son or daughter to attend a community college. It is a lot of money for many hard-
working Americans.
Finally, the minimum wage is a children's issue because the children of workers who earn minimum wage are impacted by their parents' scarce resources. It is a women's issue, because the majority of minimum wage workers are women. It is a civil rights issue because one-third of minimum wage workers are African-American or Hispanic. It is basically and most fundamentally a fairness issue. At the time of the greatest prosperity in the history of this country, are we going to continue to deny our brothers and sisters, Americans who are working hard, 40 hours a week, 52 weeks of the year, the opportunity to have a livable wage?
privilege of the floor
Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that Kathy Curran, a Labor Department detailee, be granted the privilege of the floor during today's debate.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Mr. KENNEDY. I thank the Chair.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Illinois has 1 minute remaining.
Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I thank the Senator from Massachusetts, as well as the Senators from Hawaii and Mexico, for joining in our message.
My fear is, in the closing weeks of this session, if the Members of the Senate were accused of having passed legislation this year to help the families of America, we could not gather enough evidence to prove the charge. We are about to leave town in a few weeks emptyhanded, having done little or nothing on education, little or nothing on minimum wage, little or nothing on health care. Frankly, I think the American people sent us to this body to do things to make life better for families across America. The Senator from Massachusetts speaks about minimum wage and education. There are so many other items on the agenda that should be addressed by a Congress listening to the American people.
I yield the remainder of my time.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the time until 4:15 shall be under the control of the Senator from Wyoming, Mr. Thomas, or his designee.
The Senator from Wyoming is recognized.
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