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Statement by the President on the New Minimum Wage Law for the District of Columbia.

October 16, 1966

LAST MONTH, I signed a new national minimum wage law, a major advance in our continuing efforts to eliminate poverty and to improve the living conditions of American workers. The Congress has now supplemented that advance by a vastly improved minimum wage law for the District of Columbia.

I requested action by the Congress on the District of Columbia minimum wage law last year. Currently, that law protects only 88,000 female and minor workers. Under H.R. 8126, the number will be increased to 290,000. Of paramount importance, protection under the District of Columbia law will for the first time be afforded to male workers. In addition, the bill will raise the minimum wage rate until it reaches $1.60 in 1969.

To employers, this will mean protection from those who seek competitive advantage from the exploitation of their workers. To workers, this will mean that a full-time job will provide an annual income above $3,000.

My statement on signing the new national bill bears repeating: "My ambition is that no man should have to work for a minimum wage, but that every man should have skills that he can sell for more." I look forward to that day in our Capital City, and will continue to work toward that goal.

I wish to commend especially Representative Multer and Senator Morse, together with the distinguished committee chairmen and other Members of Congress, who worked so hard to assure passage of this important measure.

Note: As enacted, H.R. 8126, approved on October 15, 1966, is Public Law 89-684 (80 Stat. 961).

Lyndon B. Johnson, Statement by the President on the New Minimum Wage Law for the District of Columbia. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/238095

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