Political Quotes

“nothing speaks more clearly to the need for an increase in the minimum wage than the plight of poor children in America. Earlier this week, the National Center for Children in Poverty released a study that should trouble all of us. The study shows that one in every four children under the age of 6 in our country was living in poverty in 1992. That number is twice what it was in 1972 and includes an increase of 1 million children in the 5 years between 1987 and 1992. Three of every five of these children have working parents, but they make the minimum wage. And it is not a living wage. Working parents are trying to provide a decent life for their children. We have heard our colleagues talk about the fact that if someone works full-time minimum wage, they make $8,400 a year, nearly 50 percent below the poverty line. We have a moral responsibility to give those working parents and their children a fighting chance by giving them a living wage. The American people agree. In December, the Wall Street Journal-NCB poll showed 75 to 20 the American people favored an increase in the minimum wage. In January the L.A. Times reported 72 percent. In 1989, when we took up this vote, 382 Members of this House, including 135 Republicans, voted for the increase in the minimum wage. Let us do it again.”