Watson Coleman: “I wish to talk about a bipartisan effort to increase the minimum wage. Last week, the House overwhelmingly passed…”

“I wish to talk about a bipartisan effort to increase the minimum wage. Last week, the House overwhelmingly passed legislation to increase the current minimum wage from $5.15 to $7.25 an hour. We will have a chance to deal with that in the Senate. We are going to get a better bill out of the Senate. We are going to have some small business protection which is important. But we do need to increase the minimum wage. I have long supported increasing the minimum wage. I strongly believe that Congress should ensure that the benefits of our strong economy go to everybody. My State of Minnesota is 1 of 29 that have sought to ease the burden for minimum wage workers by increasing the minimum wage above the Federal minimum wage. But it is well past time that Congress acted. It has taken more than 9 years to finally reach the point where we will be increasing the minimum wage, and it is about time. As a result of congressional inaction, the Federal minimum wage is actually at a 50-year low, when we factor in inflation. That is simply not fair. It is not fair for our minimum wage workers who must deal with the ever- rising cost of day-to-day living.”