Mr. HARKIN: Let's be clear at the outset. The current level of $5.15 an hour as a minimum wage is a poverty wage--actually less than a poverty wage, which I will show in a minute. It is a wage that does not respect the dignity of work, including the most humble work in this country. That is wrong. I say the President of the United States ought to be ashamed of himself, this Senate ought to be ashamed of itself, the House of Representatives ought to be ashamed of itself, that we would let the minimum wage get as low as it has gotten, forcing more and more families into poverty and on food stamps.
The minimum wage has gone DOWN, when?