Political Quotes

“I salute the Democratic leader for his opening remarks. This is the beginning of the September session of this Congress, as we roll toward the election. The majority leader has suggested we will be here for perhaps 3 or 4 weeks. I hope we can work together, as Senator Reid suggested, in a bipartisan fashion. There is certainly an ample agenda before us, a lot of things we should be considering. I spent most of August traveling up and down Illinois, in the city of Chicago and cities large and small. It is clear to me that there is much we need to do. Yesterday was Labor Day. Yesterday I noted in the State of Illinois that 330,000 workers are making less than what we are proposing as an increase in the minimum wage. That means 330,000 individuals got up this morning and went to work in Illinois, taking on some of the tougher jobs, some of the dirtier jobs, some of the jobs that demand more time away from your family, and they are faced with a wage which cannot sustain their families. Imagine living in a State governed by the Federal minimum wage of $5.15 an hour--the same wage, the same level of wage it was 9 years ago. For 9 straight years, the Republican Congress and the Republican President have refused to increase the minimum wage for the lowest paid workers in America. This breaks with tradition. Historically, this was a bipartisan issue. We didn't quarrel between Democrats and Republicans.…”