Elijah Lewis: “this debate today was supposed to be about raising the minimum wage--about raising the minimum wage-- about giving…”

“this debate today was supposed to be about raising the minimum wage--about raising the minimum wage-- about giving hardworking people at the bottom of the economic ladder a little bit more in their paycheck each week. But it is not. The Republican majority has turned this into a bill repealing the minimum wage. The Goodling amendment would do away with the minimum wage for as many as 10 million working people. If your employer wants to pay you $2 an hour, that is okay with the Republicans. My colleagues, what the Republicans are doing on this floor today is a shame and a disgrace. It is obscene. You ought to be ashamed of yourselves. Where is your sense of common decency? What you are doing today is not only unfair and unjust--it is un-American. We should be here to raise the minimum wage, not repeal it. If ever there was an issue that defined Democrats and Republicans, this is it. Democrats believe that if you work hard 40 hours a week, you should not have to live in poverty. Republicans, extreme Republicans, believe in repealing the minimum wage. If people live in poverty--so be it. Today the extremist Republican majority has shown its true colors. What you are doing today is wrong. I know it is wrong. You know it is wrong. And the American people know it is wrong.”