Political Quotes

“I don't recall exactly what the increase was. I will check and see what the wage was in 1990 as compared to what it is today. We are proposing a modest increase. If the Senator is suggesting it should be a smaller increase, I will be happy to negotiate a smaller increase if it makes the Senator comfortable. The Senator from Massachusetts is not suggesting it should be a smaller increase. He is suggesting there should be no exemption at all and that there was a provision--and that is what the debate is about-- that if they included anyone in interstate commerce, even one employee, that they should be covered. In fact, that is my understanding of how the Labor Department has interpreted this provision. In a sense, there has not been any threshold. Again, if the Senator from Illinois would like to have a threshold that indexes with the minimum wage, I would be happy to accept that as a reasonable index. But I think to suggest it should not change at all over a period of time does, of course, begin to gather and cover more and more businesses that are small by nature and then again it would be a barrier to entry and a difficulty in sustaining those businesses over time. I am willing, if there is a legitimate concern about this as to how much we are raising the cap, again, we are willing to negotiate that. That is not what the Senator from Massachusetts is saying.”