Political Quotes

“America will not soon forget the images of Hurricane Katrina, some of the poorest people in our country exposed to the worst natural disaster in current memory. We watched that television screen 24/7 and saw our fellow Americans struggling to survive, fighting the floodwaters, trying to keep their children and their families together. America may not soon forget that image, but, sadly, many politicians in Washington have already forgotten. The poor people of New Orleans who suffered--as those who did in Mississippi and Alabama--those poor people were underwater long before Hurricane Katrina arrived. They were underwater because they were submerged by poverty. They were submerged by a health care system that denies them basic health care protection. And, yes, they were underwater because if they got up and went to work every single day, and worked 8 hours a day, the most they could hope for under Federal law is $5.15 an hour. It has been 8 years since we have raised the minimum wage. Senator Kennedy of Massachusetts has valiantly raised this issue every year, begging the President to come forward and stand up for those poor, vulnerable people in America. Today he asks for what is a modest increase in the Federal minimum wage: 55 cents an hour within 6 months of enactment, and another 55 cents an hour 1 year later. Not a single family with this increased minimum wage will really get out from under the burden of poverty. We know it.…”