Tom Harkin: “Let's be clear at the outset. The current level of $5.15 an hour as a minimum wage is a poverty wage--actually less than…”

“Let's be clear at the outset. The current level of $5.15 an hour as a minimum wage is a poverty wage--actually less than a poverty wage, which I will show in a minute. It is a wage that does not respect the dignity of work, including the most humble work in this country. That is wrong. I say the President of the United States ought to be ashamed of himself, this Senate ought to be ashamed of itself, the House of Representatives ought to be ashamed of itself, that we would let the minimum wage get as low as it has gotten, forcing more and more families into poverty and on food stamps. I just heard my colleague from Iowa saying, rather than raising the minimum wage, we ought to be putting more into food stamps. What kind of a solution is that? I thought we were going to give people the dignity of work. We ought to get them off welfare and get them into jobs. Now I hear some people say the best thing is giving them more food stamps. I am all for food stamps. It has been a real blessing to our society. But that is sort of a welfare answer. It sounds as if we turned the clock back and we go back on welfare again. The economic policies of this administration are simply not working as advertised. It is still sputtering.”