Political Quotes

“last Monday in Chicago, IL, I met a lady who works for Montgomery Ward and makes barely more than the minimum wage. She is staying off welfare. She is raising her children. She is doing the right and responsible thing. She deserves a raise. Mr. Speaker, I asked her what she would do with the $150 a month which would come her way if the Democrats and 21 brave Republicans who have joined us have our way and raise the minimum wage. She said, ``The first thing I would like to do is buy a new pair of eyeglasses. It has been a long, long time.'' Mr. Speaker, I think Senator Dole and many of the Republican leaders really do not understand what real families face each and every week and month keeping their families together, paying for the basics. We need an increase in the minimum wage. It should not be a Presidential campaign issue. It should be a bipartisan effort, as it has always been, to make sure that some of the hardest working people in America have a fighting chance. Mr. Speaker, in terms of cutting the gas tax, let us not do that at the expense of education. The gentleman from Texas [Mr. Armey], the majority leader, is wrong. We need college student loans for the kids of working families.”