Joe Morelle: “One additional point that I wanted to make listening to my friend and colleague who talks about, during the last several…”

“One additional point that I wanted to make listening to my friend and colleague who talks about, during the last several years, the income and the wages of the lowest earning Americans have gone up. I do note with some irony that the reason for that, largely, is due to the increases in the minimum wage at the State levels: California, New York, many places around the country, Missouri. The list goes on and on. About half of the States in the United States have now raised the minimum wage beyond the Federal number. That is the signal significant reason for wage rates going up for the lowest earning Americans. That is exactly the point of doing this, so that all Americans at the lowest end of the economic scale, the lowest wage earners, will see a significant increase in their earning power. That will expand further the number of people at the lowest end in terms of increases in their wages. That will benefit their families-- those families benefit--and make stronger neighborhoods and stronger communities and, ultimately, a stronger nation. That is why this needs to get done. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Burgess) pointing that out because I think it helps make our case. Mr. Speaker, can I ask the gentleman whether he is prepared to close.”