Richard Gephardt: “Members of the House, I urge my colleagues to vote against the previous question so that we can add an amendment to this…”

“Members of the House, I urge my colleagues to vote against the previous question so that we can add an amendment to this bill that will increase the minimum wage. I simply want to say that wages, decent wages, are a family value. People who earn the minimum wage today earn a little over $8,000 a year. The minimum wage has not been increased in 5 years. It is a 40-year low. One-third of the people on the minimum wage are the sole wage earner in their family. It will not cost jobs, as some have asserted. I met a woman in my district the other day, a single mother with 2 minimum wage jobs. She told me she was worried that her kids would not be a victim of a crime; she was worried they would perpetrate crimes. People cannot spend time with their family if they do not earn a decent wage. I urge Members to vote against this previous question, and I say to my friends on the other side, 'You've not heard the last of the minimum wage. I suspect we won't prevail on this vote. But we are going to bring it back and back and back and back until we finally prevail for America's families and workers.'”