Patricia Schroeder: “the message for today is that work should pay. I proudly stood with the President of the United States when he said we…”

“the message for today is that work should pay. I proudly stood with the President of the United States when he said we must raise the minimum wage. Right now, if you work on the minimum wage and you are lucky enough to have a job all year long and work 8 hours a day, you can bring home $8,500. That is tough. Imagine how those people feel. And 60 percent of them are women trying to support their families. Imagine how they feel when they hear Congressmen making $133,000 saying they cannot afford to live in Washington and they must live in their offices. Not only that, they get a tax advantage for living in Washington. Really this ought to be a bill that we pass by unanimous consent. That is the least we can do for the working men and women of America. If we can raise this up, at least the average family will make $10,500 for full-time work, and that is very important. Make work pay. That is the message of the day.”