Political Quotes

“Madam President, right now, the Senate is debating, having been started by our colleague Senator Sanders, whether it is OK to pay starvation wages in the United States. You heard that right, starvation wages. Receiving that starvation wage, single moms are skipping meals as they try to make rent and buy groceries for their family. These moms get paid $7.25 an hour, often work two jobs, and go to bed every night worried that the next morning is going to bring financial calamity. Senators, is this OK in a country as rich and strong as ours? Here in the U.S. Senate, nobody has got to worry where their next meal is coming from, but that is an everyday struggle for too many families across the land. Senators, let us think about those who are hurting as the vote on the Sanders minimum wage amendment approaches. It is time for that single mom to get a fair wage for a fair day's work, a living wage, not a starvation wage. There has never been a stronger case for a $15 minimum wage than there is right now during the pandemic. I think about grocery store and pharmacy workers, home health aides, food processing and packing workers, restaurant employees interacting with maskless customers. So many workers in Oregon and across the country are going to work in a dangerous environment each day. Many of them are Black and Latino workers, people from the communities that have suffered the most from COVID-19. They have kept our country going through the last year.…”