Barbara Boxer: “We have not seen an increase in the minimum wage since 1996. This is going on 7 years. Does it not amaze my friend to…”

“We have not seen an increase in the minimum wage since 1996. This is going on 7 years. Does it not amaze my friend to see the passionate debate that happens here when our friends on the other side of the aisle talk about giving tax breaks worth 10 times more than what someone working at minimum wage for 1 year would earn? In other words, for people earning a million dollars a year, the Bush tax cut is going to be more than $50,000 a year in their pocket. That is more than-- well, how many times more than $11,000? Maybe four times. And our friends, we see them get tears in their eyes worrying about the people at the top of the economic ladder. Yet they will not even give us a vote. I just cannot believe it, in this day and age, that we would have to wait so long to do this little piece of economic justice. I wonder if my friend thinks about that.”