FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: By Office of Sen. Kennedy, January 16, 2006

CONTACT: Melissa Wagoner/Keith Maley (617) 565-4472

KENNEDY JOINS RELIGIOUS, COMMUNITY LEADERS TO DEMAND INCREASE IN MINIMUM WAGE

FEDERAL MINIMUM WAGE STAGNANT SINCE 1997, WHILE PAY OF CEOs, MEMBERS OF CONGRESS STEADILY INCREASE

QUINCY, MASSACHUSETTS - Senator Edward M. Kennedy today joined religious and community leaders and the Let Justice Roll campaign at the United First Parish Church in Quincy to demand an increase in the minimum wage, now long overdue in Congress. Frustrated by federal inaction, the "Let Justice Roll Living Wage Campaign" teamed over 50 religious and civic groups and legislators nationwide in an effort to rally support behind state ballot initiatives on the ground in 2006. At worship services throughout the country, citizens from all walks of life stood together on the day that celebrates the life and legacy of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. to raise awareness of the minimum wage as a moral issue for families across the Commonwealth, and across the country. Senator Kennedy spoke to the urgent need for Congress to do its part and act on this issue of social justice.

"Raising the minimum wage is not just an economic issue. It's a women's
issue. It's a civil rights issue. It's a family issue. But -- perhaps more
than anything -- the minimum wage is a moral issue." Senator Kennedy said. "Over the last five years the Bush administration has done a lot for the powerful and the wealthy. They have done a lot for corporate America. But they have done little to provide for the working people who are struggling to survive."

Since the last federal increase in the minimum wage 9 years ago, the costs of health care, education, housing, home heating and fuel have skyrocketed, leaving families left out and left behind. Americans are spending 74 percent more on gas than they did at the beginning of 2001. Heating oil prices are expected to rise by 56 percent this winter. In Massachusetts, a worker earning the minimum wage must work 130 hours per week to afford a two-bedroom apartment. This would require working 19-hour work days, seven days a week. The minimum wage was intended to ensure the working Americans would not have to make choices between necessities like heating and health care. Instead, our stagnant minimum wage has done the opposite and left even those with multiple jobs desperately straining to make ends meet.

While Congress voted for their 8th pay raise in 9 years, working families
continue to face skyrocketing costs in health care, home heating, education and housing. Kennedy has led the fight to increase the minimum wage in the U.S. Senate, but has been blocked at every turn by Senators who continued to turn a blind eye. Most recently, in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, Kennedy offered a minimum wage amendment to the transportation appropriations bill and the measure was defeated. Since 1998, the Senate has rejected proposals by Senator Kennedy seeking an increase in the minimum wage on eight separate occasions.

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Statement of Senator Edward M. Kennedy
Let Justice Roll Minimum Wage Event
January 16, 2006

I'm honored to be here in this historic church on this historic day to pay
tribute to one of the truly great leaders in our history. First and
foremost, Martin Luther King was a man of God. Before he left for
Montgomery, Alabama in the 1950s and began a new dawn in the Civil Rights Movement, he had spent some four years in our city completing his doctoral studies in divinity. His faith was the foundation of the great dream he had for the future. And in the course of his magnificent but all too brief life here on earth, he showed us all that it was possible in America to dream the impossible dream, and make that dream come true.

On the steps of the memorial to Abraham Lincoln in Washington, he called for an end to segregation. "I have come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of now," he said. "Now is the time to open the doors of opportunity to all of God's children. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of
brotherhood."

Justice for the poor was also an indispensable part of his dream. His faith
taught him that exploitation of the poor to benefit those of vast wealth
was wrong, and throughout his life he was an eloquent advocate for a better life for all those who need help the most.

Were he here today, we all know what he would say. He would remind us again of the fierce urgency of now. Now is the time to open the doors of
opportunity to all of God's Children. Now is the time to raise the minimum wage for millions of Americans.

It has been 10 long years since Congress last voted to increase that wage. A minimum wage employee who works 40 hours a week, 52 weeks in a year now makes $10,700 for that year. For a single parent with two children, that amount is $4,500 below the poverty line.

I believe that in our prosperous nation, no one who works for a living should have to live in poverty. Americans understand fairness, and that is
not fair. Americans understand right and wrong, and that is wrong.

It is wrong that hard-working men and women cannot afford to put food on
the table or heat their homes. It is wrong to give billions upon billions
of dollars in tax relief to the wealthy, and deny relief to the large numbers of hard-working families who live in poverty each day, and the 14 million children who go to bed hungry each night.

Yet year after year, Congress turns a blind eye to the problem of poverty
that is festering in our country of such great wealth. Over the last nine
years, we have tried time and again to increase the minimum wage, and time and again Congress said no. Even in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, after the receding waters had given us a new insight into the quiet desperation of poverty, Congress again declined to act.

Here in Massachusetts, we have done better. We have successfully raised the minimum wage twice in the past decade, and we will work hard to increase it again this year. We know we are not alone. Last November, voters in Nevada and Florida voted overwhelmingly to raise their state's minimum wage. The Maryland legislature will likely approve a minimum wage increase next week over their Governor's veto.

17 states and the District of Columbia now have minimum wages above the federal level, and initiatives are also underway in four other states to do
the same.

And while we are here today to speak up for the living wage, we are mindful of another urgent cause that is before us today. The United States Supreme Court in recent decades has been an ardent defender of our rights and has opened doors of opportunity for our people. Soon, the United States Senate will vote on whether the highest court in the land will carry on our march of progress, or pursue another, less hopeful path. This past week, I participated in the hearings on Judge Alito's nominations. I asked the hard questions and listened to his answers. I can tell you today, he does not share our commitment to civil rights, workers rights, women's rights, disability rights to our rights. So on this special day, in which we honor Dr. King, I urge you to make your voices heard on this urgent matter, too.

I commend you all for your efforts to help these workers, and for proving
to leaders everywhere that the American people want to do what is just and right.

As Dr. King said, "Human progress never rolls in on the wheels of inevitability; it comes through the tireless efforts of [people] willing to
be co-workers with God." Today, I ask each of you to continue to do God's
work. To fight at the national level, at the state level, at the local level to create an economy that truly reflects our values. I'll be with you in spirit every step of the way, and do everything in my power in Congress to help us prevail. Now is the time. Justice will roll, and I believe Dr. King would be proud of us.

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