Political Quotes

“America needs a raise. With the purchasing power of the minimum wage now approaching a 40-year low, America needs a raise. And just a few minutes ago we had an opportunity to vote on whether America should get a raise. Unfortunately, at the last minute the Gingrich leadership was able to twist enough arms, apply enough pressure, cajole enough Members, to succeed on a very narrow vote, and I think that one thing we can see from this vote, as disappointing as it is, the setback that it is to America, is that all Americans can now see that all that stands between them and this House of Representatives and a raise, all that stands between them and that raise, are 10 Republican Members and their votes, 10 Republican Members and their votes who were not willing to come forward this morning and cast a critical vote in favor of giving America a raise. Now, what is particularly ironic about this development is the fact that there were some 15 Republican Members of this body who have already signed their name onto an increase in the minimum wage of even greater than that proposed by President Clinton, and yet those 15 Members, when they had an opportunity to come to the well of this House and cast a vote in favor of a raise for the American people, a vote that they have stood in front of the cameras and said they think the American people deserve, well, this morning they choose to vote against that raise.”