John Mica: “I do not have a little standard here but it is interesting to hear the other side rant and rail and rave about the…”

“I do not have a little standard here but it is interesting to hear the other side rant and rail and rave about the minimum wage. This sort of says it all, Bill Clinton, our President, in Time Magazine, February 6, 1995, that was last year, I believe, said, ``Raising the minimum wage is the wrong way to raise the income of low-wage earners.'' This is just one quote. There are other quotes with the President saying the same thing. Now, I have only been here 3 years, Mr. Speaker. The first 2 years, the other side of the aisle controlled, as I recall, the House, the other body, the U.S. Senate, and the White House. They controlled it in very large numbers. They could have brought this issue up at any time. Instead, as I recall, and I was here for that time, what they did was they passed the largest tax increase in history, and they said it would not have any effect on folks. But if you have not been to the gas station lately, I advise these people that are earning $4.25 an hour, low-income people, to look at their gasoline prices. They raised those gasoline taxes that they are paying, and it hurts the poorest of the poor. They there is another report, I submit to my colleagues, out today by the Heritage Commission. Look at that report. That report says that people have less money in their pockets, and that is the result of these policies that they did their first 2 years. This is what the President said. That is what they did.”