Letter to the President of the Senate and to the Speaker of the House Transmitting a Minimum Wage Bill.
February 7, 1961

[Released February 7, 1961. Dated February 6, 1961]


My dear Mr.----------
     I am transmitting herewith a draft of a bill to extend the coverage of the Fair Labor Standards Act and to increase the minimum wage. This bill provides needed improvements in the Fair Labor Standards Act, and I urge its prompt consideration. It is designed to carry out a recommendation contained in my message on February 2 to the Congress.
     The bill would bring within its protection 4 3/10 million additional workers and would increase the minimum hourly rate of those already protected by the act to $1.25. This will be done by a series of annual adjustments which have been carefully set at levels to which employers can readily adjust.
     Our nation can ill afford to tolerate the growth of an under-privileged and underpaid class. Substandard wages lead necessarily to substandard living conditions, hardship and distress. Since the last increase in the minimum wage both living costs and productivity have increased to such an extent that the proposed bill merely reflects an adjustment to keep pace with these factors.
     I am also enclosing the letter I received from the Secretary of Labor commenting briefly upon the provisions in the draft bill.
         Sincerely,

JOHN F. KENNEDY


NOTE: This is the text of identical letters addressed to the Honorable Lyndon B. Johnson, President of the Senate, and to the Honorable Sam Rayburn, Speaker of the House of Representatives.
     The Fair Labor Standards Act amendments (Public Law 87-30, 75 Stat. 65) was approved May 5, 1965 (see Item 169).
     The text of Secretary Goldberg's letter of February 6 and the draft bill, released with the President's letter, are published in the Congressional Record (vol. 107, Feb. 7, 1961, p. 1729).