Roland Gutierrez: “last week as the cherry blossoms bloomed in Washington, Americans were treated to yet another sight that they had long…”

“last week as the cherry blossoms bloomed in Washington, Americans were treated to yet another sight that they had long awaited, a Republican legislative agenda. Finally the GOP articulated an issue when the leader of the other body declared that Republicans would block any increase in the minimum wage. Yes, while the Dow Jones climbs higher, Republicans say that some workers are unworthy of sharing in America's prosperity. As my colleagues know, when trading closes each day on Wall Street, someone has to clean up the Stock Exchange, someone is serving drinks to the investors getting together to celebrate, and somebody is stitching together the $3,000 suits fashionable in the financial district. Yet some of those workers are struggling to get by on an annual income lower than the wardrobe expenses of some of the well-dressed brokers. Mr. Speaker, I have one request of the Republican leader of the other body: Keep talking about the minimum wage. The staunch opposition can only help us in uniting working families, and when we Democrats pass a minimum wage increase over objections, we will be saying, ``Senator Lott, thanks a lot.''”