Frank Riggs: “I wanted to rise to address the minimum wage issue for just a moment as one of seven Republicans who a few weeks ago…”

“I wanted to rise to address the minimum wage issue for just a moment as one of seven Republicans who a few weeks ago voted for a procedural motion on this floor that would have allowed the House to then consider actually a vote on increasing the minimum wage and as 1 of 20 Republicans who have now joined together to introduce our own version of legislation increasing the minimum wage. This is our competing version with the version that has been offered by our Democratic colleagues. What I wanted to first point out before this minimum wage bandwagon gets too far along in the process is that some of our Democratic friends, especially those in the other body, are not leveling with the American people. They are not telling the American people, for example, that during the past 2 years, when they controlled both Houses of the Congress and of course the Presidency, they did not entertain legislation to increase the minimum wage. That sort of begs the question: Why, if you think it was such a high priority, if you think it is such a high priority now, why did you not address it when you had the chance, when you controlled both Houses of the Congress and the Presidency? Second, Mr. Speaker, let me say that one reason, in fact the main reason that I supported increasing the minimum wage is because I believe we have to make work more attractive than welfare.”