Political Quotes

“The Republican-led filibuster of the minimum wage bill-- which would raise the Federal minimum wage from $7.75 per hour to $10.10 per hour--means that an estimated 27.8 million Americans, including 91,000 Rhode Islanders, will not get a raise. It also means, according to estimates from the Economic Policy Institute, that our economy will miss out on a GDP boost of $22 billion by 2016, which would have supported over 84,000 additional full-time jobs. Those 27.8 million workers who would have received a raise would have spent it at local businesses, helping their local communities and spurring economic growth. Typically, minimum wage workers are those who, when they receive an increase in their paychecks, go out and buy things that are necessary. They are the ones who really provide the kind of local stimulus we need to grow the economy. The Federal minimum wage has not been increased since 2009. Today an individual who works 40 hours per week 52 weeks a year at the Federal minimum wage earns $15,080 per year, and that is nearly $5,000 below the Federal poverty level for a family of three and almost $9,000 below the poverty level for a family of four. That means we have hard-working Americans putting in full-time work every week for the entire year and yet still living in poverty. That is not fair to these families who are just looking for a fair shot. People who work hard for a living shouldn't have to live in poverty.…”