Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I rise today to express a simple principle: People who are working to bag groceries should not have to rely on government assistance, on nutrition assistance, to be able to buy groceries. Yet, across this country, there are thousands of workers who go and put in a full day's work yet can't afford the basic necessities of food and clothing. And it is the taxpayers, all of us, that bear the responsibility for the underpayment by large corporations. A Berkeley study has said that this underpayment by large corporations, low wages, is costing the American taxpayers $153 billion a year. I am proud to introduce the Corporate Responsibility and Taxpayer Protection Act with nine other colleagues that would require companies to be responsible for the underpayment of their employees. The idea is simple: If people are putting in a hard day's work and a full week's work, they deserve wages that will allow them to be part of the middle class. Too often, what happens is corporations, even if they are paying a $15 minimum wage, will adjust an employee's hours so that they don't get more take-home pay for the month. What this bill will do is say that a corporation that isn't paying a fair wage, where employees are relying on government assistance, the corporation is responsible for that government assistance. It is not the taxpayers who should be paying for that; it is the corporations who should be held responsible for the underpayment of wages.…”