Political Quotes

“Today I join a number of my colleagues in introducing legislation to increase the minimum wage. There is no better way to reward work than by ensuring each and every worker be paid a living wage. During the past three decades, the purchasing power of the minimum wage has declined by 30 percent. Even after the modest minimum wage increase in 1996, a person working full-time for the minimum wage earns only $10,712 a year, nearly $3,000 below the poverty level for a family of three. That paycheck must pay for food, housing, health care, child care, and transportation. It is time to reward working families with living wages. The legislation we are proposing would provide a modest 50-cent per hour increase this year, with an additional 50-cent increase in 2000, bringing the wage level to $6.15 per hour. More than 10 million people would be helped by a raise in the minimum wage--an increase of more than $2,000 per year for a full-time worker. To put things in context, nearly three quarters of minimum wage earners are adults and 40 percent are the sole breadwinners for their families. Sixty percent of minimum wage workers are women, and 82 percent of all minimum wage earners work more than 20 hours per week.”