Maxine Waters: “now I know why we are here trying to convince some of the Members on the other side of the aisle that we should allow a…”

“now I know why we are here trying to convince some of the Members on the other side of the aisle that we should allow a $1 raise over a 2-year period of time. They really do not understand. The gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Ballenger) just told us that there are no real people out there who are working for a minimum wage that are taking care of families. He said they are teenagers and they are people just starting in the workplace. Well, I do not know what he knows about home health care workers, people who do some of the toughest work who make minimum wages. I do not know if he knows that many of the people who serve food in our restaurants, waiters and waitresses, make minimum wage. I do not know if he knows what is happening in the nursing homes, where they are taking care of the sick and the elderly, that many of them are on minimum wage. I do not know if he knows that the airport safety workers who check us when we go through the metal detectors are making minimum wage. He does not know that they are elevator operators. Well, now I know why we must tell this story over and over and over again. They are ignorant of the facts.”