Tom Harkin: “Last year, the Bush administration's new rule effectively eliminated overtime pay protection for some 6 million American…”

“Last year, the Bush administration's new rule effectively eliminated overtime pay protection for some 6 million American workers. The Senator from Pennsylvania is opening a second front in the war on the minimum wage and the 40-hour workweek. While 1.2 million workers would qualify for the minimum wage increase under the Santorum amendment, another 6.8 million workers would lose their current minimum wage protection. As I said, then we get the 80-hour work period for a 40-hour workweek. This has only one purpose: to allow more employers to avoid paying overtime compensation. In my 30 years in Congress, I don't recall such a bold, brazen assault on the compensation of American workers than what we see in the Santorum amendment. It ought to be called the shock-and-awe amendment. Workers get the shock, and corporate America sits back in awe at the latest gift from the party it financed in the last election. I am proud to stand with Senator Kennedy to raise the minimum wage to $7.25. The present one, at $5.15, is a poverty wage. It doesn't respect the dignity of their work, including the most humble. As Senator Kennedy said, of all the issues we are debating, this is a values issue.”