Eva M. Clayton: “the President today proposed a modest increase in the minimum wage. We should support him. The President's proposal…”

“the President today proposed a modest increase in the minimum wage. We should support him. The President's proposal, combined with the earned income tax credit we passed last Congress, will go a long way in pushing millions of Americans out of poverty. Sixty percent or 6 out of every 10 of those who are minimum wage workers are women. Many of them have children. And, most minimum wage workers are poor. Increases in the minimum wage have not kept pace with increases in the cost of living. That is why a worker can work full time, 40 hours a week, and still be below the poverty level. If the Federal Reserve Board can increase interest rates seven times in less than 6 months, with no inflation in sight, surely we can increase the minimum wage for the first time since April 1991, a period during which the cost of housing, food, and clothing has greatly risen for the minimum wage worker. The best welfare reform is a job, at a livable wage. I support this constrained request to lift millions of workers out of poverty.”