Political Quotes

“I stand here today to voice my strong support for the 90-cent increase in the minimum wage proposed by President Clinton. As my colleagues know, I represent southwestern Pennsylvania, an area of the country that lost 200,000 jobs in the 1980's when the winds of change blew through the steel mills and the coal mines. Many of my constituents are now left to subsist on $4.25 per hour, or $8,840 per year, hardly a living wage and no where near enough to raise a family. The facts are that adjusted for inflation, the value of the minimum wage has fallen by nearly 50 cents since 1991 and is now 27 percent lower in buying power than it was in 1979. Mr. Speaker, in 1989 President Bush proposed, and many of my Republican colleagues supported, a similar minimum wage increase. Now that we are about to undertake welfare reform, a minimum wage increase could be the first step in cutting welfare rolls and giving people a chance at a decent wage. If we are going to be fair to our workers and help the economy to continue to grow, we should pass this modest minimum wage increase now. American workers are crying out for us to help them.”