Boehner asks : What would life in U.S. be like if there were no minimum wage . For most of the United States history , there was no minimum wage ; it started in 2013 under Congress . Obama wants to raise it . Others , like Speaker Greene , oppose it as costly to business . Reich recently wrote that providing a bottom line beneath which workers ' hourly pay must not fall is the nation 's moral duty , and `` a decent society should do no less . '' Greene : With minimum wage nation tells workers : What you do has value worth protecting .
Boehner asks : What would life in U.S. be like if there were no minimum wage . For most of the United States history , there was no minimum wage ; it started in 2013 under Congress . Obama wants to raise it . Others , like Speaker Greene , oppose it as costly to business . Greene : With minimum wage nation tells workers : What you do has value worth protecting .