Political Quotes

“The battle about the minimum wage rages on. Some people would have our colleagues believe that the minimum wage only affects kids, so we should not worry about it. Not true--10 million Americans are affected by the minimum wage. Some 75 percent of them are adults and 58 percent of them are women. We need to increase the minimum wage. The minimum wage has not been increased in 5 years. The purchasing power of people who earn the minimum wage has decreased by 15 percent. We are talking about people who make about $8,400 a year operating under the current minimum wage. I am pleased to say today, Mr. Speaker, that there is some bipartisan support for increasing the minimum wage. I am distressed, however, that there are still some Republicans who believe that we should not increase the minimum wage and want to fight it. We do not need any convoluted bureaucratic plans to pay employers. What we need is a very simple solution: Raise the minimum wage. Mr. Speaker, if we raise the minimum wage, we will bring 300,000 families out of poverty, we will bring 100,000 children out of poverty. Raise the minimum wage.”