Political Quotes

“I thank the gentleman for yielding me the customary 30 minutes, and I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to the rule, one that provides for consideration of H.R. 1343, the Encouraging Employee Ownership Act. I strongly support the underlying legislation. I wish it had been brought forward to the floor under an open rule that allowed Democrats and Republicans to freely offer amendments that could be adopted by a simple majority vote. Before we get to the specifics of the bill, I want to talk about the importance of employee ownership. I join my friend and colleague from my neighboring district in Colorado in extolling the virtues of employee stock ownership, of ensuring that employees in the company are stakeholders and able to benefit from the value that is being created. You know, we have different stakeholders in our economy, and when you look at a company, you have different stakeholders that that company is responsible to and caters to: You have the shareholders, you have the employees, and you have the customers. In running a company, as I have done, it is always a constant balancing act to make sure that you are able to satisfy the legitimate demands of all those various stakeholders. Now, one of the things that has been out of whack in our economy the last few decades is that a disproportionate share of the value creation has gone to the shareholders and the customers, often to the detriment of the employees.…”