Let Justice Roll

SENATE DEMOCRATS HOLD A NEWS CONFERENCE ON THE MINIMUM WAGE
CQ Transcriptions

WASHINGTON, D.C., NOVEMBER 16, 2006

SPEAKERS: U.S. SENATOR EDWARD KENNEDY (D-MA)

U.S. SENATOR CHARLES SCHUMER (D-NY)
U.S. SENATOR HILLARY CLINTON (D-NY)

JOHN SWEENEY, PRESIDENT, AFL-CIO

ALICIA RUSSELL,
CHAIRMAN, ARIZONA ACORN'S POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE

LENNY JONES,
MISSOURI CAMPAIGN DIRECTOR, SEIU

THE REVEREND PAUL SHERRY,
NATIONAL COORDINATOR, LET JUSTICE ROLL

KENNEDY: We'll get started. We've got a wonderful group of our colleagues that are coming here, on their way. My good friend Senator Schumer, Senator Clinton, we've worked closely with.

Alicia Russell -- Alicia, are you there? Do I hear you?

(APPLAUSE)

Raise your hand -- raise your hand, Alicia.

My friend, John Sweeney will be in here in just a few moments. John has been just a tower of strength -- tower of strength with the AFL-CIO in our battle.

(APPLAUSE)

Lenny Jones, give Missourians a raise.

Lenny, are you there?

JONES: Right behind you.

KENNEDY: Right behind -- I'm right behind you, Lenny.

(LAUGHTER)

Did he do a good job, gang? Did Lenny do OK down in Missouri?

You bet he did.

(APPLAUSE)

And Reverend Paul Sherry, Let Justice Roll -- let's hear it for him.

(APPLAUSE)

Now, I want to know whether there's some people here from Arizona that had something to do with the increasing. Raise your hand.

(APPLAUSE)

How about from Colorado? Anyone here from Colorado?

(APPLAUSE)

I think there's some Ohioans that worked out there in Ohio. I want you to raise you hand.

(APPLAUSE)

How about down in Missouri? You got some people here from Missouri that worked that battle.

(APPLAUSE)

Montana? Montana?

(APPLAUSE)

Thank you, Montana.

And Nevada, too.

(APPLAUSE)

There you go.

As we are about to say, all of you have done your work. Now it is up to us to ours. And we pledge to you...

(APPLAUSE)

We pledge to you we will do it.

(APPLAUSE)

KENNEDY: We will do it.

(APPLAUSE)

Speaker Pelosi has indicated this is the first order and first priority. It's my first order of priority.

This ought to be the first business of the United States Senate, starting in January when we get back: increasing the minimum wage first.

(APPLAUSE)

And I want to give you the assurance of something else: We're going to raise it and raise it and raise it and raise it and raise it and raise and raise it and raise it.

(APPLAUSE)

So it's the kind of living wage that we know that we need on this.

Thank you, thank you all. Thank you for what you have done, what you're doing, what you've done for our country to make it a fairer, more just and more progressive and more hopeful nation.

The men and women that earn the minimum wage are men and women of dignity. They work hard at some of the most difficult jobs in America. And they try and do those jobs well. They have a sense of pride in their work.
These are men and women of dignity.

So many of these minimum wage workers work with our children in our schools as teachers' aides. They work in our nursing homes to try to take care of the greatest generation who have retired and have contributed so greatly to this nation. They're working in the great buildings of our country to make sure that American commerce and American economy can go on.

They are men and women of dignity that work hard, work hard, for a decent wage.

KENNEDY: This issue is primarily a women's issue, because so many of the minimum wage workers are women.

(APPLAUSE)

It's primarily a women's issue.

And, my friends, it's not only a women's issue, but it's also a children's issue.

(APPLAUSE)

It's also a children's issue. And it's a children's issue because it's the children of those minimum wage workers: a women's issue, a children's issue.

It's a civil rights issue, because so many of those that earn the minimum wage are men and women of color.

It's a civil rights issue, it's a children's issue, it's a women's issue, it's a family issue, it's a value issue. It's a value issue.

(APPLAUSE)

We hear a great deal over on the floor of the United States Senate about values. We hear a great deal about family and family values.

We have news for you, Republicans: We have the issue right here. We have the issue right here.

(APPLAUSE)

So this is the family issue, it is the children's issue, it is the civil rights issue and, most of all, it's a fairness issue. And if there's one thing that Americans understand, and that is fairness. And they understand that anyone that works 40 hours a week, 52 weeks of the year, in the richest country of the world should not live in poverty.

KENNEDY: Do you agree with me?

(APPLAUSE)

The only thing that blocked the increase in the minimum wage in the last Congress was Republican leadership in the Senate and the House. They've been removed. We will pass that increase.

(APPLAUSE)

We thank you. We thank you. We thank you. We thank you.

Give Chuck Schumer, my friend, a nice welcome here to our minimum wage rally.

(APPLAUSE)

SCHUMER: Thank you.

Well, last Tuesday's elections are going to have plenty of good results. But one of the first is going to be that the minimum wage is going to go up.

(APPLAUSE)

We tell people, "Work hard." We tell people, "Play by the rules and you can climb that ladder."

And then we tell them, "We're not going to pay you a fair wage, so you can never get to live a good, decent life and afford the things you and your children and your family need."

You can't have it both ways. You can't tell people to play by the rules and work hard and have a good life and pay them $6.15 an hour, period, no ands, ifs or buts.

KENNEDY: $5.15 an hour.

SCHUMER: $5.15 an hour.

(LAUGHTER)

AUDIENCE MEMBER: That's even worse!

SCHUMER: But guess what? You can't pay them $6.15 an hour, either.

(APPLAUSE)

The only fair wage -- it's not $6.15.

SCHUMER: We are going to bring this up to $7.25.

(APPLAUSE)

And we want to make sure when costs go up, the wage goes up.

(APPLAUSE)

So, ladies and gentlemen, I am so glad to be here with our great, great leader on this issue and so many others, a beacon for fairness and justice who now will be in the majority and can help America do the right thing, Senator Ted Kennedy.

(APPLAUSE)

And I am so glad to be here with my colleague and friend and partner in New York, who has also stood for so many years for fairness and justice, Senator Hillary Clinton.

(APPLAUSE)

CLINTON: Hello, everybody.

(APPLAUSE)

Are we ready to let justice roll?

AUDIENCE: Yes!

CLINTON: Are we ready to take this great victory that we had and translate it into action for the working people of this country by raising the minimum wage?

AUDIENCE: Yes!

CLINTON: You're ready and we're ready. And we've seen justice roll across this country.

State after state, when they had a chance to vote, voted to raise the minimum wage. City after city has said, "We can't let people who work hard every day, taking care of our children, taking care of our parents, cleaning up after us, serving us our food, making the products we need, live in poverty when they're working full-time."

This is a matter of justice. This is a matter of economics, because when there's more money in your pockets, you spend more money in your community.

(APPLAUSE)

And that's good for everybody.

(APPLAUSE)

We are so excited that the people of America have spoken. They knew what we were running on. They were not in any way mistaken.

I went all over this country and I said, "We've been trying to raise the minimum wage for nearly 10 years. And every time we try, there's some excuse why we can't do it."

And you know, after a while, you make the argument that it's smart for the bottom line, it creates more economic activity. You make the argument that it's the moral imperative to treat people with dignity who do the work that keeps our economy and society going.

Well, we introduced a piece of legislation, Senator Kennedy and I did, which said, "OK, you're not going to raise the minimum wage because it's the right thing to do and the smart thing to do, then no more congressional pay raises until you raise the minimum wage."

(APPLAUSE)

So, you know, we may not be tanned and rested, but we're ready.

(LAUGHTER)

CLINTON: We are ready. We've been working toward this moment for years.

You know, my colleagues, Senator Kennedy and my partner Senator Schumer, we have been working toward this day, and it is now coming.
We couldn't have gotten here without your help, without the help of so many of you in this room and millions more across the country.
I want to thank SEIU and ACORN, who have led the fight.

(APPLAUSE)

I want to thank AFT, who's here in great numbers.

(APPLAUSE)

I want to thank fair-minded people across our country.

And I especially want to thank and introduce, from the AFL-CIO, a great champion of working people, a wonderful friend, John Sweeney.

(APPLAUSE)

SWEENEY: Thank you very much, Senator Clinton and Senator Kennedy, Senator Schumer.

I'm really delighted to be here with all of you today, delighted to be with the leaders in the party in the majority in the Congress.

(APPLAUSE)

I'm happy to see so many of my brothers and sisters here, so many of the different affiliates who have been so active in this campaign, together with ACORN. We're delighted that you're all here.

America's working families have spoken. They trust you to stand up for their interests and to put their interests ahead of those of giant corporations.

Today, our new leaders have a mandate for change. They have the opportunity to start by giving a raise to the people who need it most: America's lowest-paid workers.

SWEENEY: You know the fact it's been 10 years, as Senator Clinton has just told us, since Congress voted to raise the minimum wage. They voted in the summer of 1996, with the first step of an increase in '96 and the second in '97.

Since then, the real value of the minimum wage has dropped to its lowest level in 51 years, a fact that has devastated America's lowest- income families and depressed living standards for many more.

It's nothing short of immoral that while shamelessly blocking attempts to raise the federal minimum wage for low-wage workers the Republican Congress gave itself nine pay raises since 1997...

(BOOING)

... a total of $35,000 more than in 1997.

Republican opposition to the minimum wage has hurt low-wage workers and the living standards of all working families in America.

Early on, we understood that a problem this big deserved a national solution. But the Washington of Tom DeLay and Bill Frist wasn't listening to working people, so we took it on a state-by-state basis.

The AFL-CIO unions, along with ACORN and other community allies, took bold steps and helped pave the way, state by state and piece by piece, towards wage reform through our America Needs A Raise campaign in 19 states.

The AFL-CIO helped drive the ballot initiatives in six states -- Missouri, Ohio, Arizona, Montana, Colorado and Nevada -- and pushed minimum wage legislation in 13 others.

SWEENEY: Now, 28 states and the District of Columbia have a minimum wage over $5.15 an hour.

(APPLAUSE)

But, brothers and sisters, it's time to bring everyone up. Today we're ready to work together with Congress, with these distinguished leaders who have joined us here today, to give America the raise they've needed for so long.

The newly elected Congress has a unique opportunity to set the record straight for working people. As first order of business, America's new leadership would do well to give America's workers the clean $2.10 raise they justly deserve.

(APPLAUSE)

RUSSELL: Thank you, Senators. Thank you for being here.
My name is Alicia Russell and I'm a proud member of ACORN from Arizona.

(APPLAUSE)

Arizona is one of the six states that on November 7th did the job that Congress failed to do for seven, eight, nine years, and we raised the minimum raise in Arizona.

(APPLAUSE)

Working with our partners, ACORN helped initiate, organize the minimum wage campaigns in Arizona, Ohio, Missouri and in Colorado.

We gathered signatures to qualify them for the ballot. And we hit the streets and we went out to our neighbors and we got thousands of ACORN members to spread the word.

RUSSELL: Our house-to-house campaigns gave people a reason to vote. No matter how fed up they were with politicians and with the politics, they decided that they were going to go out to vote.

As a matter of fact, there were several people that I went to from door-to-door that said the only reason they were going to vote this time was because they were going to give Arizona and other states a raise.

(APPLAUSE)

People in our communities, they understand what a few extra dollars in their pockets are.

They know what it means to be able to buy medicine for their children.

They know what it means when your child is sick, you have to take care of them now. You can't wait a month.

They know what it's like when you have to get your car fixed so that you can get to work and keep your job. They know what it's like.

The voters have spoken. I want to repeat that: Voters have spoken.

(APPLAUSE)

Hard work deserves fair pay.

The new Congress should listen and they should raise the federal minimum wage as soon as they can in January.

(APPLAUSE)

But there's much, much more work to do. ACORN is going back to work. We're fighting for a working families agenda at state and federal levels. That agenda includes fair minimum wage indexed to inflation, expanded earned income tax credit, paid sick days for every worker and, of all things, affordable child care.

(APPLAUSE)

I know for a fact that people in Arizona care about the minimum wage. When I was at the election rally, I had a server come up to me really quietly and soft-spoken. And she's been working there all day, all night. And she said, "Did we get it? Did we raise the minimum wage?" And I said, "Yes, we did."

(APPLAUSE)

And that's just the beginning. We're going to keep doing it.

(APPLAUSE)

JONES: Good afternoon.

I personally want to give it up again for ACORN for all their great work in Missouri.

(APPLAUSE)

My name is Lenny Jones. I am the campaign director for Give Missourians a Raise, a ballot initiative campaign in Missouri. I'm also the political director for SEIU in Missouri.

In Missouri, the response in favor of raising the minimum wage was tremendous: 76 percent of Missourians voted for it.

(APPLAUSE)

JONES: In addition to that...

(UNKNOWN): And didn't they elect a Democrat?

JONES: Yes. I'm getting to that. I'm getting to that.

(LAUGHTER)

In addition to that, 58 percent -- every single county voted for a minimum raise of at least 58 percent. So it wasn't just an urban thing, it was everywhere. People believe this is the time to raise the minimum wage.

This initiative, we know, boosted turnout -- just as Alicia had said, boosted the turnout in St. Louis and Kansas City, our urban areas. But I think the big lesson here is that it also provided a very strong economic and value-based reason for conservative voters to vote for Claire McCaskill, our new U.S. senator from Missouri.

(APPLAUSE)

The fact of the matter is that people across this country are struggling to make ends meet, whether they are minimum-wage workers or middle class families searching for a way to afford health care and college for their kids.

By electing Claire McCaskill and passing the minimum wage overwhelmingly, the voters of Missouri sent a very clear, strong message to Washington, D.C., and this is the message: It is time to address the needs and concerns of working families.

Thank you.

(APPLAUSE)

SHERRY: It's a great day, isn't it everybody?

(APPLAUSE)

Great day.

My name is Paul Sherry and I'm the national coordinator of the Let Justice Roll Living Wage Campaign.

(APPLAUSE)

Let justice roll down like living waters and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream. That's what we believe, isn't it?

The Let Justice Roll Living Wage Campaign is a nonpartisan coalition of more than 80 faith-based, community-based and labor organizations, as well as business people who know that a higher minimum wage is vital for workers, for communities and, of course, for our economy.

We believe that Let Justice Roll and our partners, working together, succeeded in making the minimum wage THE values issue of the 2006 election -- THE values issue.

(APPLAUSE)

This values issue brings people together across all lines who believe that all workers deserve a living wage; who believe that it is immoral that workers who care for children, the ill and the elderly, struggle to care for their own families.

SHERRY: Our message is clear: A job should keep you out of poverty, not keep you in it.

(APPLAUSE)

A job should keep you out of poverty, not keep you in it.

(APPLAUSE)

You know, it's very fitting that we're rededicating ourselves to a higher federal minimum wage just days after the groundbreaking for the Martin Luther King Jr. National Memorial.

(APPLAUSE)

You will remember that a key demand of the 1963 march on Washington, where Dr. King delivered his remarkable "I have a dream" address -- that particular march was for a national minimum wage act that will gave all Americans a decent standard of living.

Dr. King could not have dreamed that the buying power of the minimum wage would be lower today than it was in 1963. It is time -- is it not, my friends? -- long past time to fulfill that dream.

As visitors enter the King Memorial, they will see a passage carved in stone, the words of the prophet Amos: "Let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream."

Well, those challenging words of the prophet inspire our Let Justice Roll Campaign, even as they inspired Dr. King.

So together, we of Let Justice Roll will continue to work at the state and federal level so that everyone who works for a living can earn a living wage.

A job should keep you out of poverty, not keep you in it.

(APPLAUSE)

KENNEDY: Are you with us? Are you with us?

AUDIENCE: Yes!

KENNEDY: Thank you.

(APPLAUSE)

AUDIENCE MEMBER: Hillary '08!

(LAUGHTER)

(APPLAUSE)

END

NOTES:
[--] - Indicates could not make out what was being said.[off mike] - Indicates could not make out what was being said.

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