Barbara Boxer: “I thank Senator Clinton. I am also very proud to be on the floor of this great body with my Democratic women Senate…”

“I thank Senator Clinton. I am also very proud to be on the floor of this great body with my Democratic women Senate colleagues. We held a press conference in which we challenged the Republican leadership to bring up issues on this floor that are meaningful to our families. Here is our checklist for change. Each of us has taken one of these issues. Mine happens to be protecting our air, land, and water. The message we are here today to convey is that the Republicans run the Senate, the White House, and the House of Representatives. They control what issues come to the floor of the Congress for debate. We spent yesterday debating an amendment to the Constitution to ban flag burning. We also debated a bipartisan proposal by Senators Bennett and Clinton to ban flag burning via a statute. Every one of us in this body voted to ban flag burning, be it by a statute or by an amendment. But one has to ask the question: Is that debate, which we have had four times, more important than the issues that are on our checklist for change? There have been four reports of flag burnings this year. That is four too many, but they were four. Yet there are 44 million Americans whose pensions are at risk while this Congress fails to act to protect those pensions. Four flags burned versus 7.5 million Americans who have been denied an increase in the minimum wage.…”