Political Quotes

“I wish to comment on the vote we took earlier today on whether to proceed to a bill that would increase the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour. It has been several years since we increased the minimum wage, and I support an increase in the minimum wage. But I do not believe at a time when our economy is so fragile, as is indicated by the very slow increase in GDP that was reported this morning, we can afford to increase the minimum wage by some 39 percent. I would note that just a year ago President Obama was suggesting we should increase the minimum wage to $9 an hour. I do not see any change in the economic conditions that would have caused him to abruptly change his position and now be advocating $10.10 an hour. I know there are many low-income families who are really struggling in this country, and I believe our economy could accommodate an increase in the minimum wage. But the Congressional Budget Office, a nonpartisan entity, has told us the consequences of going to $10.10 an hour would be a loss of some 500,000 jobs--at a time when our economy simply cannot afford that kind of loss. I have talked with numerous employers in Maine. They care deeply about their employees. They, in most cases, are willing and able to pay more. In fact, many of them do pay more. In fact, all of them pay more than the Federal minimum wage because Maine's minimum wage is $7.50 an hour rather than $7.25 an hour. So we are already above the Federal minimum wage.…”