Rod Grams: “we have heard a lot of talk from Washington recently about the hardships that are facing working Americans. Tax rates…”

“we have heard a lot of talk from Washington recently about the hardships that are facing working Americans. Tax rates are up, job opportunities are down, interest rates are rising while paychecks are shrinking and take-home pay is not going anywhere at all. But the families trapped on this economic seesaw are feeling anxious and unsure about the future, and they are looking to the Federal Government for some change. Most everyone agrees that a fundamental responsibility of Congress and the President is to try to help ensure greater opportunities for working Americans, so men and women can seek better jobs that will lift their standard of living, and the real debate going on in Washington today centers around just how that should be accomplished. The Democrats in Congress are saying the answer is to simply raise the minimum wage. But that is a political smokescreen that flies in the face of reality, an attempt to mask a 40-year record of voting for policies that have actually lowered family incomes. The truth is that most minimum wage positions are either part-time jobs that are held by students, entry-level jobs for young people who are just trying to get into the work force, or second jobs held by men or women whose spouse is the primary breadwinner. Raising the cost of doing business by raising the minimum wage is probably going to mean even fewer of those jobs.”