Political Quotes

“I rise in this Chamber to address an issue that is critical to working families across our Nation; that is, the Federal minimum wage. First, I thank Senator Tom Harkin for his leadership on this issue. He has advocated year after year, decade after decade that we need to ensure that we have an economy where workers fully participate in the fruits of their labor. We should not have a society in which all of those fruits go simply to the very few at the expense of a fair wage for those who create that success. I thank Senator Harkin for leading this fight over this extended period of time on behalf of working families. He believes, as I believe, that we should measure the success of our Nation not by the growth of the GDP, not by having one eye on the Dow Jones and one eye on the S&P 500, we should measure the success by the success of our families. That is what this debate on the minimum wage is all about. This issue matters a great deal to me because I come from a blue- collar family. My father was a mechanic. He employed those skills in a sawmill. He was the millwright, the person who keeps the machinery going so the plant can keep operating. When it is operating, there is work for the workers, and there is certainly success for the company. He went on to work as a mechanic in many other ways. On that mechanic's wage, he was able to raise a family and participate fully in the American dream. He and my mother were able to buy a home. They could afford to take us camping.…”