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By The Associated Press
Arizona Daily Wildcat
August 21, 1996
WASHINGTON, D.C.- President Clinton ensured millions of Americans a 50-cent-an-hour raise by Election Day by approving the first minimum-wage increase in five years.
The legislation, which will raise the hourly minimum by 90 cents to $5.15 per hour over 13 months, was enacted yesterday in the first of three bill signings this week that Clinton hopes will portray him as a can-do leader going into next week's Democratic National Convention.
The bill, passed by Congress Aug. 2, raises the minimum from $4.25 an hour to $4.75 effective Oct. 1 and to $5.15 an hour on Sept. 1, 1997. The minimum has dropped near a 40-year low when adjusted for price increases in recent years.
''This is a cause for celebration for all Americans of all parties, all walks of life, all faiths,'' Clinton said at a campaign-style ceremony on the South Lawn of the White House. ''It will give 10 million Americans ... a chance to raise stronger familie s and build better futures.''
''This bill says to the working people of America: 'If you're willing to take responsibility and go to work, your work will be honored,''' Clinton said.
He is expected to sign legislation today expanding working Americans' access to health insurance and, tomorrow, a bill ending the six-decade federal guarantee of welfare benefits to the poor.
The health bill was pushed by both parties but the welfare legislation was largely championed by Republicans. The signings fit with Clinton's re-election strategy of running as a moderate Democrat who can work with Republicans while at the same time blunt ing their excesses.
But yesterday's minimum-wage script was written to play to the administration's core Democratic constituency. Clinton signed the bill with AFL-CIO President John Sweeney looking on and with children of minimum-wage workers at his elbow. He sat at the desk of Frances Perkins, labor secretary to Franklin Roosevelt, who enacted the first federal minimum wage - 25 cents an hour - in 1938.
The bill marks a rare Democratic legislative victory during the 20 months that Republicans have controlled Congress. But moderate Republicans reminded Clinton that without them the wage raise, as well as the health and welfare bills, would have remained b ottled up in Congress.
Conservative Republicans had argued that raising the minimum wage would destroy entry-level jobs. And House Majority Leader Dick Armey, R-Texas, had pledged to fight the raise ''with every fiber of my being.''
But, GOP leaders relented after moderate Republicans threatened to join Democrats, who were using parliamentary tactics to bring the already glacial pace of Congress to a standstill.
All sides readily agreed to include a $21 billion package of tax cuts over 10 years, mollifying conservatives and their small-business backers, who are getting more generous equipment write-offs and a new type of simplified pension plan for companies empl oying 100 or fewer workers.
Attempting to reap some political gain from the defeat, Republican leaders focused on the tax provisions yesterday.
''Small business owners will finally see some relief that will result in lower taxes, more take-home pay, and more jobs,'' said House Speaker Newt Gingrich, R-Ga.
GOP presidential candidate Bob Dole's campaign spokeswoman, Christina Martin, described the wage raise as ''a helpful but small step toward addressing the economic anxiety of American workers.'' And she promoted Dole's proposal to cut income-tax rates by 15 percent.
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