Brooklyn, N.Y. – Congresswoman Yvette D. Clarke commended President Obama’s State of the Union address for its proposals on income inequality and comprehensive immigration reform.

President Obama’s promise to sign an executive order to increase the minimum wage for those people working under federal contracts, from the current $7.25 to $10.10 and he urged Congress to enact immigration reform that will allow the more than ten million Americans without legal status to apply for temporary legal status and, eventually, United States citizenship.

“Despite recent gains in our economy, millions of Americans have effectively been excluded from the job market, or have been working for wages and benefits that are inadequate to raise a family,” said Congresswoman Clarke. “As a nation, we have the ability to choose a new direction – to develop the talents of our workers, to stimulate the economy, and to insist on a living wage for every worker in the United States.”

Congresswoman Clarke continued: “A policy of comprehensive immigration reform will also support our economy, by preventing the exploitation of workers who lack legal status despite, in some instances, living in the United States for almost their entire lives. With legal status and subsequently citizenship, these workers will finally have the ability to claim the rights of American workers.”

U.S. Representative Yvette D. Clarke is a member of the House Committee on Small Business, Ethics, and Homeland Security, where she is the Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Cybersecurity, Infrastructure Protection, and Security Technologies. She represents many neighborhoods in central and southern Brooklyn, NY which include Brownsville, Crown Heights, East Flatbush, Flatbush, Gerritsen Beach, Madison, Midwood, parts of Park Slope and Flatlands, Prospect Heights, Prospect-Lefferts Gardens, Sheepshead Bay, and Windsor Terrace.