THE WHITE HOUSE AT WORK



Wednesday, March 8, 2000

PRESIDENT CLINTON:
FIGHTING FOR A PAY RAISE FOR AMERICA'S WORKING FAMILIES

"There are a dozen good reasons to raise the minimum wage, and not a single good argument against it. This is the right thing to do for working families, the right thing to do for our economy."

President Bill Clinton
Wednesday, March 8, 2000

Today, at the White House, President Clinton released a report by the National Economic Council which shows that raising the minimum wage is good for American workers and the American economy. The President called on Congress to pass clean, straightforward legislation to raise the minimum wage by $1 -- from $5.15 to $6.15 -- in two equal steps. The President emphasized his opposition to legislation that would delay this overdue pay raise, resulting in a significant loss of wages for full-time minimum wage workers, or include risky tax cuts that would jeopardize our ability to strengthen Social Security and Medicare and pay down the debt by 2013.

NEW REPORT SHOWS RAISING MINIMUM WAGE IS GOOD FOR AMERICA. The National Economic Council report released today, The Minimum Wage: Increasing The Reward For Work, highlights the benefits of raising the minimum wage:

CHALLENGING CONGRESS TO DO THE RIGHT THING. Current minimum wage legislation crafted by the Republican leadership would spread the raise out over 3 years instead of 2, costing a full-time minimum wage worker over $900 in two years. The Republican legislation also contains repeals on worker protections and irresponsible tax cuts that would threaten our ability to save Social Security and Medicare and pay down the debt by 2013. Vowing to veto such legislation, President Clinton urged Congress to send him a clean, straightforward bill that rewards America's hard-working people with the raise they need and deserve.



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