Joe Cunningham: “the gentleman that spoke in the aisle a minute ago said to increase the minimum wage. If my colleagues remember the last…”

“the gentleman that spoke in the aisle a minute ago said to increase the minimum wage. If my colleagues remember the last time the minimum wage was raised before this, it was raised by Ronald Reagan and the Republicans. Why, when the Democrats had both the House and the Senate and the White House, if the minimum wage is so important now, did they do nothing? They had control of all three of the areas in which they could have raised the minimum wage and they chose to do nothing. The President even said the minimum wage is not the way to empower people. But now it is important because it is a political year. No, Mr. Speaker, they do not raise the minimum wage and they talk about a do-nothing Congress. Well, Democrats did a lot of things in the 103d Congress. They increased taxes the highest level ever. They promised a middle-class tax cut and they increased the marginal rate on the middle class. Mr. Speaker, we tried to live up to that bargain and give money back to the middle class with a $500 tax deduction to working families for every child, and my Democrat colleagues fought that. Why? Because they want the power and the ability to spend money out of Washington, DC, so they can rain it down to their liberal interest groups, so they can get reelected. That is what is cruel. Mr. Speaker, if my colleagues want to help the American people, balance the budget and cut out the extra spending.”