Joseph Knollenberg: “last night we heard President Clinton call for an increase in the minimum wage. Leon Panetta claims such an increase…”

“last night we heard President Clinton call for an increase in the minimum wage. Leon Panetta claims such an increase will ``keep people interested in work rather than in welfare.'' It must have been a busy week for the writers over at the White House. Not only did they have to write a State of the Union Address, but they had to rewrite basic economic theory as well. Last Wednesday, Mr. Carlos Bonilla, an economist at the Employment Policies Institute, testified before the Opportunities Committee. He argued that low wage jobs, not job training programs, provide the best means to break the cycle of dependency. He also warned that raising the minimum wage would deprive many welfare recipients of the opportunity to work their way off welfare. I urge my colleagues, who believe that raising the minimum wage rate will help the poor, to review Mr. Bonilla's testimony. The President's intentions may be good, but raising the minimum wage is bad policy. As the House begins to consider legislation that will move welfare recipients toward self-sufficiency let us not lift the bottom rung of the occupational ladder beyond their reach.”