Political Quotes

“the reconciliation spending bill that we just passed leaves me deeply concerned about this Congress and where we are heading. The spending package violated the letter and the spirit of the budget agreement and hit hardest at the working and poor families of our Nation that struggle every day to get by. Before I speak about tomorrow's vote on the unfair Republican tax cut package, I want to say a few words about what we as a body have done in voting for this budget reconciliation spending bill. While there are many serious attacks on working families in the spending bill, like privatizing portions of Medicaid and food stamps, slashing the Federal funding for those hospitals who serve a disproportionate share of low-income patients, and block-granting children's health care, one of the most serious attacks is against the minimum wage and workplace protections for workfare participants. The budget reconciliation bill condemns working welfare recipients to second class citizenship. The bill specifically states that benefits provided to these workers in their jobs are not to be considered wages or compensation. With this devious language, the bill denies these hundreds of thousands of hard-working mothers and parents the rights that all American workers now enjoy, and it denies these workers the enforcement and remedial protections of the Fair Labor Standards Act. This is wrong. It must not be retained in the final passage of the bill.”