Political Quotes

“Americans believe in fair play: the right for everyone to have his say, the opportunity to get a job and make your own way in the world, a fair wage for a day's work. This is not just idealism--we figure we are all better off if the system we live in is open and fair. That belief in fair play is the foundation of this Senate and indeed of our constitutional system itself. My father worked hard and he taught me that fairness is our most fundamental value. He taught me that we always have to stand up against the abuse of power at every level. Whenever someone uses their advantage, be it wealth, education, size, strength, whatever it may be, against someone else, it is wrong, and it goes against everything we stand for, everything we are as a nation and a people. Not just the process is flawed. The product of that process, the Omnibus appropriations bill before us today, is flawed, too. It is unfair. That back-room, unrepresentative process has produced legislation that deserves to be defeated, not just because of the way it was cobbled together, but because of what will happen if it becomes law. Here is one result of that process: millions of men and women who will lose their right to time and a half overtime pay, a cornerstone of our workers' rights for over half a century.”