Jeff Flake: “one of the great arguments that I have heard in this debate about the minimum wage has been that there are many students…”

“one of the great arguments that I have heard in this debate about the minimum wage has been that there are many students who receive minimum wage. I stand here this morning as a product of the family of 13 children, parents who could not afford to send me to college, and the only way I could get through was to work. I do not see anything wrong with trying to provide a wage that allows a student to be able to work their way through school particularly when we are cutting back in so many areas that affect and impact the lives of students who have been able to get scholarships, be able to get grants and loans. It seems to me that if we are going to be fair, we have to be fair to every American citizen, even those who are students who have a desire, a will, to work. Mr. Speaker, my mother taught me how to cook, wash, iron, and sew. That is how I got through college. There are many other young people who could do the same thing if we were fair enough to them to give them that opportunity, give them the best wages. I have waited tables, I have bussed tables, I have shined shoes, I have done everything, and we ought to let them do it. Pay them a good enough salary so that we can indeed come to that point where maybe if we reduce the scholarships, they will know they can work their way through. Mr. Speaker, I think it is a good thing. I am a product and a witness of it.”