Date: 2006-09-14
Speaker: WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (democrat)
Chamber: H

in a minute. but lets talk about dollars and cents. if we can talk a little bit about the whole domestic piece. the priorities. There are some people that would love for us to talk about the war in Iraq. Well. guess what. there is pain and suffering that is going on right here in the United States of America every day from community to community. need it be a parish or a county. need it be a city or a town. or need it be a suburb. they are going through real issues. Talk about the minimum wage. Here is a sheet right here. Mr. Speaker. This year alone. nine attempts by the Democratic Caucus to raise the minimum wage in America that has not been raised since 1997. Since 1997. $5.15 an hour. You know. it is very. very unfortunate. Mr. Speaker. that that is the fact. The Democratic plan that we have beenpushing for a very long time is to move it from that number up to $7.25. . But look what happened. Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. You would think these are minimum wage increases. Oh. no. Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. Mr. Speaker. These are Members of Congress. Oh. yes. We are starting to buy a couple of new suits. a couple of St. Johns. I am not calling anyone out. I am just saying that is what it is. And the bottom line is that since 1997. the Republican majority has been in control. they have been getting paid. and I mean paid. every year. And I am going to tell you. as a Member of Congress that has to keep a home in Miami and one here in Washington. D.C.. it is a strain on Members of Congress. And you know something.. I dont think the American people have a real huge problem with the issue of Members of Congress being able to support their families. this. that. and the. other. But when we dont support them. when we dont have their back. then that is the problem. And I know. Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. you are dying to get in on this. but let me just mention this. 1998. $3.100 for Members of Congress. zero for the American people. $4.600 for U.S. Members of Congress. zero for the American people. $3.800. zero for the American people. $4.900. zero for the American people. 2003 on to 2006. you see the numbers. 2006. $3.100. zero for the American people. Now. let me just make sure I am factual. Mr. Speaker. because that is what we do in the 30Something Working Group. because this is not about dancing in the end zone. The Republican Congress brought up a bill talking about the minimum wage. and they put together a bill that would not see the light of day in the U.S. Senate. would never see the desk of the President of the United States. But just to say that we passed a bill off the floor. that is what they wanted to do. Well. we called it the Potomac TwoStep. And the bottom line is this. Mr. Speaker. The American people. they dont want slogans. they dont want talk. they want action. And this Republican Congress has not put forth the action. Now. to let you know in very blunt terms as I yield to Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. we are going to go 5 minutes and 5 minutes. I am into almost my fifth minute here. but I am going to turn it over to you. Let me just say this. Within the first 100 days of a House majority by the. Democrats. the minimum wage will be raised. period. Not a lot of talking. not a lot of dancing around. The bill is already filed in this Congress. But. guess what. the Republican majority doesnt have the will or the desire to pass it. And this is what it means for salaried workers: If the minimum wage moves up to 7.25. then you will see workers that are on salary that are making over the minimum wage. their wages will nine times out of ten go up. Because to be able to get a workforce to what businesses need. they need to pay their workers. that will then help hopefully pay for the cost of health care that they have to pay. Some folks have to make the decision. am I going to have health care or am I going to live? And that is very. very unfortunate. But what has happened in this situation is that the Republican majority has guaranteed that the minimum wage will never be raised. will never deal with the issue of health care because there wont be any dollars to deal with it.. So I think it is important. Mr. Speaker. to know exactly where we stand. Homeland security. fully implementing the 9/11 recommendations. Border security agents. the President sent to this Capitol Hill 216 in his budget. we ask for 2.000 border agents to be able to protect our borders just like the 9/11 Commission called for. If they were to implement the Democratic amendments that cam to this floor that were voted down in a partisan way. the majority took over. we would have 6.000 new border agents working now on the U.S. border. So when Members come to the floor on the majority side. on the Republican side and start talking about. oh. we are tough because we say we are tough. And the Democrats. they are holding us back. They are in the majority. that is not -true. I will go ahead and say it: That is not true. Mr. Speaker. And the bottom line is that. the fact is that we have come to this floor to bring about real security in this country. and we will in .a new Congress if the Democrats are in control.