Barbara Boxer: “I am so proud to join Senator Murray, who organized several of the women here, to speak out in favor of the minimum wage…”

“I am so proud to join Senator Murray, who organized several of the women here, to speak out in favor of the minimum wage increase for the workers of America. My colleagues have said it well, but it bears repeating: No one in America--male or female--should have to live in poverty after putting in a full day's work. Yet that is the case today. We should give hard-working Americans a fair shot to get ahead so they can raise their families. Everyone deserves that fair shot, and that is why Democrats have a fair-shot agenda. Right now we don't seem to have many Republicans joining us in our desire to raise the minimum wage so that it gets people above the poverty line when they work full time. I would argue that anyone who votes against that level of pay--which is about $10.10 an hour to get a worker right above poverty--simply wants to keep people in poverty, and that is not the American way. Right now a mom who is working full time and makes minimum wage earns just $290 a week. That is just $15,000 a year, which is below the poverty rate for a single mom. No mom or dad should come home from a full day's work and have to worry about whether they can feed their children or whether they can afford a roof over the heads of their kids. I see Senator Warren is here, and she has brought such attention and focus to the unfairness in the number I am about to say. There are 400 families in America that control as much wealth as 150 million Americans.…”