 no one in this country should work full-time and still live in poverty and that's what raising the minimum wage is all about. And why is this a women and families issue? Well because more than half of those who would be affected if we raise the minimum wage are women. And more to the point if we raise the minimum wage that would raise living standards for 14 million children in America. Think about that. 14 million children who live with parents who are so close to the poverty line that just getting a boost in the middle it in in the minimum wage would give those children a stronger start in life, a little more economic security. But I want to drive home for everybody here if I can. These kinds of policies really matter. We throw around lots of numbers 14 million children. I want to tell you about just one of those children. Me. I lived in a family that had a lot of economic ups and downs and when I was 12 years old my daddy was out of work for a really extended period of time. My mom was a stay at home mom and our world just started falling apart. We lost the family car and we came that close to losing our home. I still remember the day that I walked into my parents bedroom and my mother was pulling on her best black dress and fighting to get the zipper up and crying the whole time. And she kept talking. I don't know if she was talking to me or talking to herself. But she kept saying we will not lose this house. We will not lose this house. And she blew her nose. She put on her lipstick pulled on her high heels and she walked to the Sears and she got a minimum wage job at Sears Roebuck. That minimum wage job saved our house. But more to the point it saved our family. I was blessed to grow up in an America where a minimum wage job would keep a family of three afloat. Today in America a minimum wage job will not support a mama and a baby and keep them out of poverty. So every time we talk about these policies we have to remember there are real people who are touched by this. Not in small ways but in big ways. Someone in America fought for a higher minimum wage long before I was born and I was the beneficiary of it. I stand here today in part because I grew up in an America that said there will be opportunities for more of our children.