Christopher Shays: “In Psalms we read, ``I would have fainted unless I believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.''…”

“In Psalms we read, ``I would have fainted unless I believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.'' This is an excellent debate, and we are having the opportunity on both sides of the aisle and within both parties to debate this issue and speak from our hearts. From my heart I believe in the Riggs-Quinn-English-Martini amendment to increase the minimum wage 50 cents in July and again 40 cents a year later. In my heart I believe that we have got to have a minimum base for a worker so they are not exploited. In my heart I believe this is the right thing to do. Now, the debate we have, this is historic because two-thirds of Congress wants to increase the minimum wage, but two-thirds of the majority party does not. What a credit to the majority party that they have brought out a fair bill, and I just have nothing but admiration from my leadership on both sides of the aisle that they have offered this kind of debate. Now, there is a tradeoff. My colleague from California is right. When we increase the minimum wage, we affect jobs and we affect prices. The issue is how significant is that increase?”