Tom Harkin

The proposed rules bear no resemblance to what is in the law.

But we are getting to the point now where farmers are just saying you are scoffing at the law.

I think we, all of us here and on the authorizing committee, have been more than understanding of saying, okay, fine, things take time.

I was shocked to find out that despite the fact that the comment period closed on March 2, the public and the press still does not have access to the comments.

I have never in all my 20 some years here encountered an agency denying access to public comments in this way, never.

I have here a recent letter that 56 members of the Senate signed.

Every Senator I have talked to has heard from their farm groups.

Madam Secretary, you have made up the rules out of thin air.

To deny country of origin labeling to America's consumers and producers is unacceptable; for USDA to remain evasive and unresponsive in attending to this issue is inexcusable.

Common sense dictates if an employer can work you longer hours per week and not have to pay you overtime, that is exactly what they will do, and they will not hire new workers. In fact, when the Fair Labor Standards Act was passed in 1938…

The people of California are privileged to have a fighter like Barbara Boxer representing them in the Senate. I mean that. Not only is the Senator a personal friend of mine but someone I admire so much because she never backs down. When…

The Secretary says: Hourly workers not affected by part 541 under either the current or proposed rules. But is there anything in the proposed rules that would prevent an employer from saying: OK, you were an hourly worker. We have now…

We will not give up because we are fighting for the rights of American workers to have justice and fairness in their working conditions. As Sheila Perez said, from Bremerton, WA, if she is forced to give up her premium time, her time with…

Well, it is one way some unscrupulous employers--I would not say all--will be helped. Again, I must say to my friend that prior to this rule being issued last year by the administration, and even during the debate on this last year, I…

That is true. I want to be very fair. We have changed the Fair Labor Standards Act a number of times since then because some of the job descriptions, buggy whip manufacturers and buggy harness makers, have gone out, obviously. But, at the…

I fear that all the progress we have made in the past, under things like the Americans with Disabilities Act, IDEA, Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, and integrating students in schools, bringing kids with disabilities into the…

That is bad enough in itself. I say to the Senator, also by 2009, the interest payments on this debt that we are piling up under this budget that we have will lead to $980 for the credit card of every man, woman, and child in America. In…

Not only have I not heard from the people in the State of Iowa, even friends of mine who have a lot of money, who make a lot of money, have basically told me: You guys are crazy what you are doing back there. You have to get this economy…

And they will keep buying more and more and as the huge deficits pile up America's debt. This is going hat in hand to China and Japan and South Korea and many other countries. To do what? To finance huge tax breaks for the wealthy.

So we have a huge trade deficit with China. We are buying everything from China. They get the dollars, and we go hat in hand, a debtor nation, and effectively say, please, buy our bonds.

We are not going to balance it. But I tell you what they are doing. Effectively, they are going hat in hand to the Chinese, and they are saying, Please loan us some money. The Chinese will buy our bonds. Japan is buying our bonds. I think…

I will just say to my friend all you have to do is go back and look at 2002, 2003, and 2004. Look at the last 3 years of the Bush budget and you can see what happened. They have dug themselves and our country into a huge fiscal hole. Now…

I started digging in the budget along with my staff. I said surely someplace in this budget they must have some money in there to fund our operation in Iraq. You will look until your dying day and you will not find one penny in that budget…

The Pentagon already has figures put together. In the bowels of the White House they have figures put together. They already know it is going to cost money for next year. Again, I guess I respond to my friend by asking him, why wouldn't…

I tell you, the Senator from Nevada has put his finger on it. Look, everyone knows, we had the $69 billion last year. We knew it wasn't enough, so he had to come back and ask for $87 billion. He got that. We also know that is not enough…