Barbara Boxer: “we are facing a filibuster on an amendment I offered with Senator Kennedy, with great support across the board. I thank…”

“we are facing a filibuster on an amendment I offered with Senator Kennedy, with great support across the board. I thank Senator Reed for his support of this very simple amendment. We are facing a filibuster on whether we can vote on raising the minimum wage. I cannot think of a more cruel filibuster in my life. Why on Earth would anyone, Republican or Democrat, try to block a vote on this very important matter? I hear all about compassionate conservatism. Fine. Show it to me. Where is it? People at the minimum wage have been stuck there for 7 years. That is how long it has been since we raised it. Give us a chance to have an up-or-down vote on raising the minimum wage. I ask my colleagues to try and live on $10,800 a year. Think about your rent or your mortgage payment. If it is $800 a month, that is it. You use up all of your money. Some Members say we are trying to raise it way out of proportion. We are not. It is a rather modest increase, from $5.15 to $7 an hour. I will show a few charts that tell the story better. People who work at the minimum wage are working well below the poverty line. This red line on this chart is the poverty line for a family of three. A family of three is way below the poverty line. They are headed straight down, as shown on this chart. I do not understand why we want to keep people below the poverty line. Nearly three-quarters of minimum wage workers are adults. We are not talking about kids.…”