Nita Lowey: “I must say I sympathize with my moderate Republican colleagues on the other side of the aisle. After months of urging…”

“I must say I sympathize with my moderate Republican colleagues on the other side of the aisle. After months of urging your leadership to allow a straight up-or-down vote on increasing the minimum wage, you thought you had finally won that most basic opportunity. But at the 11th hour, Speaker Gingrich unleashed a killer amendment that would repeal the minimum wage and overtime pay requirements for up to 10 million Americans. I continue to be amazed by the Republican leadership's policies that seek to bring us back to the days when workers were routinely exploited, polluters fouled our air and water with abandon, and college was only an option for the privileged few. But today with the Goodling amendment they are at it again, turning the clock back to a darker day. Make no mistake about it, the Republican leadership doesn't believe hardworking Americans deserve a raise. The record of the Gingrich gang on the minimum wage is undeniable: delay, distort, and derail. Inflation has been chipping away at the value of the minimum wage since it was last raised 5 years ago. Its value is now at its lowest level in 40 years. Forty years, Mr. Speaker. Americans who work full-time simply cannot live on $8,800 a year. Making the minimum wage a liveable wage through two 50-cent increases will lift 300,000 families out of poverty, including 100,000 children, and help people move from welfare to work.”