{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://web.archive.org/web/20140502014734/http://www.collins.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ContentRecord_id=55a6cf2e-3334-42f1-9cea-1a54730c1a6b", "Senator Collins Continues to Seek Support for Agreement to Raise Minimum Wage", "2014-04-30", "2014", "2014-04", "Republican", "House", "ME", "Susan Collins", "C001035", "web.archive.org", null, null, "legacy", "Collins leads bipartisan discussions on a reasonable compromise \n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\tWASHINGTON, D.C.-U.S. Senator Susan Collins released this statement after the Senate failed to invoke cloture on the motion to proceed to a debate on a bill to raise the minimum wage.\u00a0\n\"I recognize how difficult it is for anyone who is trying to make ends meet on the minimum wage, and I believe it should be increased.\u00a0 In 2007, the last time the Senate voted on this issue, I supported legislation that raised the federal minimum wage to the current $7.25 an hour.\n\"It is clear, however, that the President's current proposal - which is considerably higher than the $9 minimum wage he proposed just last year --\u00a0\u00a0does not have the votes it would need to pass the Senate, much less the House.\u00a0 That's why I have spent the past several weeks in discussions with colleagues on both sides of the aisle about a possible alternative that could raise the minimum wage by a reasonable amount that would not result in the huge job losses caused by a 39 percent increase to $10.10.\u00a0 Unfortunately, the Majority Leader has already made it clear that he doesn't intend to allow any amendments to his bill - including any possible compromise.\u00a0 That is  disappointing.\n\"The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office found that the proposal to raise the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour could lead to a reduction in total employment of about 500,000 workers. Many of these workers are likely to be low-income employees. \u00a0 I continue to believe that there is support in the Senate for a reasonable alternative that would raise the minimum wage but avoid the loss of hundreds of thousands of jobs that are critical to our state and our economy.\u00a0 Just today, I had a phone conversation with a Democratic colleague and we agreed to convene a working group to examine the issue.\n\"Today's vote is an attempt to score a political point, but it doesn't move us any closer to raising the minimum wage.\u00a0 My focus remains on working together to reach an agreement on a responsible path forward.\"", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://web.archive.org/web/20140502014734/http://www.collins.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ContentRecord_id=55a6cf2e-3334-42f1-9cea-1a54730c1a6b"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.7455598097294569, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}