Barbara Boxer: “I thank my friend. He has made, of course, a great moral argument for increasing this minimum wage. I point out that in…”

“I thank my friend. He has made, of course, a great moral argument for increasing this minimum wage. I point out that in 1996 when we passed this--my friend from Nevada may well remember--my friends on the other side finally went along. Remember, we had a Democratic President. They predicted we would have a terrible economy because we were raising the minimum wage. Oh, this was going to be a damper. This was going to be awful. What happened? We had the greatest economic recovery we have ever seen, the greatest economic boom we have ever seen. Now, when we are making a plea to our colleagues that those who have carried this country through these good times have fallen behind, they are too busy thinking of ways to cut the taxes for the people at the top. I believe it is important to note, as we look at this economic record and how terrible it is, that there are a few actions we could take. Yes, we did something today. We got some budgetary discipline back into this body today. I am proud we did that. But I say to my friends, there is lots we could do to change this pattern. One is to change this stagnating minimum wage. Give a little boost to a few people. They will turn around, spend it at the corner store, have more dignity, and spark this economy in a way that all the tax cuts to the top people just don't. It just doesn't happen that way.”