Political Quotes

“our Republican friends support a tax cut for wealthy Americans earning more than $200,000 a year, but they will not support a raise in the minimum wage for people who want to work and not collect welfare. If we truly want to move people off public assistance, we must make work more attractive than welfare. We ought not be deceived by those who say the minimum wage is only being paid to teenagers from well-off families. Two-thirds of minimum wage workers are adults over the age of 21, many of whom bring home at least half their family's income. Let us look at the choices faced by a single mother living at the poverty level. If she goes on welfare, she can get comprehensive health care and a monthly check from the government. If she goes to work at a minimum wage job, she earns only $8,500 a year, and her family loses her health coverage. She must find a way to care for her children while she is at work. That is not much of a choice. Mark my words, Mr. Speaker, tossing people off welfare will not make these dilemmas magically disappear. The minimum wage is an important piece of the effort to raise the living standards for all Americans. We started on the right path last year when we voted to expand the earned income tax credit. Let us raise the minimum wage.”