Frank Pallone: “I must say that the gentleman from Colorado has made a very valiant effort to try to justify why this should not be…”

“I must say that the gentleman from Colorado has made a very valiant effort to try to justify why this should not be brought to the floor, but the bottom line is we have no choice. We know that the Republican leadership in this Congress will not schedule the minimum wage for a vote. "It is not my intention to schedule a vote on the minimum wage," said the House Republican leader, the gentleman from Texas, Dick Armey. This is the only way we can bring this up to the floor for a vote. We are talking about real people and real lives here. Minimum wage workers have a very difficult time paying for groceries, paying for housing, paying for the utility bills. I think that the budget we are going to pass today is a great thing, and I will commend every one involved in it. But the bottom line is when we are talking about a minimum wage worker, that budget may be something that helps them in the long run, but they need help right now to raise their living, the amount of money they take in so they can buy food, housing, and the basic necessities of life. Let me just say, very briefly, in my home State of New Jersey we have raised the minimum wage. It is now $5.05 an hour. This increase has been a complete success. We have increased the purchasing power of minimum wage workers and we have improved our economy with it.”