Political Quotes

“If we are going to reform welfare, we have to pay a livable wage for work. Today, after months of prodding, we are finally going to get an amendment to raise the minimum wage. Only the Republican leadership could, under the guise of raising the minimum wage, actually repeal the minimum wage for millions of American workers. You see, currently those companies that do less than half a million dollars gross per year do not have to pay minimum wage if they are involved in interstate commerce. The Republicans think that is a mistake. So today, they say they are going to fix that. What they are really going to do is to open the door for garment industry sweatshops, for industrial piecework. This is done in the home for sheltered workshops, for farm workers across this Nation who support their family, not to make a minimum wage. They are going to try to lower wages, see that there is no overtime pay, see that we are returned to long work hours, that we get rid of child labor abuses, protections.”