George Miller: “it is an interesting refutation we just heard. What we heard is that with respect to people who are struggling to get…”

“it is an interesting refutation we just heard. What we heard is that with respect to people who are struggling to get off of welfare, the Republicans are prepared to take care of old disabled people. We thought they would do that anyway. But the fact of the matter is for the workers under this legislation that they have sent to conference, those workers who are struggling to get off of welfare, who have taken the direction of this Congress, they are second-class citizens with respect to the protections that other workers receive. That is a matter of the law in the bill that we have sent to the conference committee. That is true with respect to sexual harassment. That is true with respect to the minimum wage. That is true with respect to worker protections under OSHA. We have to ask ourselves, why is it the Republicans are so hell bent, so hell bent on punishing working people? Earlier we saw that they wanted to deny them the minimum wage. Then they wrote a tax bill that showered the benefits onto the wealthy. Now we see, to balance the budget, they have decided that people who go on welfare should not be given the same benefits as other people they are working alongside of in the workplace. It simply is not fair. It is inequity, and it is simply un-American with respect to the treatment of working people. Working people deserve better and that is why we are going to ask for a vote on the motion to instruct.”