Lateefah Simon: “Well, in response to that question, which is an extremely important question for the American people, obviously it does…”

“Well, in response to that question, which is an extremely important question for the American people, obviously it does not make sense. It is a response that grows out of something--and I know the Senator from Massachusetts feels very strong about this--it grows out of something that we ought to deal with, but we duck in Congress--that is, our system of financing campaigns. I join the Senator from Minnesota, and I applaud him for his leadership on what we did on gifts and limiting on the lobbyists. But, frankly, that is 1 percent of the reform we need. Ninety-nine percent of the reform is on our system of financing campaigns. If you have 20 individuals who are very wealthy in this country, who wanted some modest change in the law, who sent a $1,000 campaign contribution to every Member of the U.S. Senate, I have an idea--unless it was an egregious request--that request would receive very sympathetic attention. We have 11 million people who will benefit by an increase in the minimum wage, who, because of their situation, cannot give a campaign contribution to anyone, and we are reluctant to respond. I hope we will. Let me just add for the benefit of the Presiding Officer--and I see my friend from Kansas on the floor here, too--the last time we increased the minimum wage, it passed 89-8 in the Senate, with 36 Republicans voting for it. This should not be a partisan thing. We ought to improve the lot of people who are really struggling. Are we going to be sensitive to that?”