Political Quotes

“at long last, I believe we are on the verge of passing legislation that is long overdue. Soon we are going to vote on a procedural motion, known as a cloture motion, for the Fair Minimum Wage Act, which takes us one step closer to raising the minimum wage to $7.25 per hour over the next 2 years. It has been 10 years since Congress has raised the minimum wage for the lowest paid workers in America. Since we last raised the minimum wage, its value has eroded because of inflation, the rising cost of living. Unlike our congressional pay raises, it has not kept pace with the actual cost of living in America. The Democrats have been trying for almost 10 years to convince the majority party, then Republicans, that there are millions of Americans who go to work every single day and still can't make enough money to provide decent daycare for their kids, pay their medical and utility bills, and provide food and other essentials that are part of every family's life. Many of those people working for a minimum wage in Illinois make about $6.50 an hour because we raised it on a State basis in my home State. Yet they understand the need to raise the minimum wage. One woman wrote to me and said: I can't support my daughter on the wages I have, and I have to rely on my family. I won't get a significant increase in my wages until you bump up the wages. I make about $14,000 a year. I'm sure that's nothing to you but I have to live off that.”