Tom Harkin

Well, there seems to be a common theme coming through here now, and I think it is focused on those entities that would somehow be off of central trading.

They are a test of our character, but they are also a test of Professor Feldblum's commitment to opposing discrimination in all of its forms.

Over the last 45 years, we have made great strides toward eliminating discrimination in the workplace.

In 1990, as Chairman Harkin has pointed out, the Americans with Disabilities Act made our Nation a world leader in inclusion.

I have seen firsthand her ability to work on both sides of the aisle and to engage the disability community, business leaders, Republicans, in serious dialogue, as well as Democrats.

These important guarantees, however, are not self-executing, as I like to say.

The EEOC's mission is simple--to promote equality of opportunity in the workplace and enforce Federal laws prohibiting employment discrimination.

While much progress has been made in recent decades, discrimination in the workplace persists.

I have long believed that disability rights are one of the greatest civil rights challenges facing our modern Nation.

We can do better and we will.

There is a lot of work to be done, but I know that we will pass reform legislation that truly does build something better.

But it gives us, I think, an added advantage of being able to seek out the solutions to that issue.

Senator Harkin has recommended for all school foods.

I encourage you to keep that up. We have got to meld these two together...

Why do we have vending machines in schools?

Thank you for your leadership on this and always working together to try to move this child nutrition bill.

Chairman Harkin did a tremendous job, along with the staff, in really teeing up what we need to do on child nutrition.

We do know about the extreme connection between obesity and health.

We need to recommit ourselves to having schools be commercial-free zones for kids.

It seems to me that the essential underlying feature of having a healthy country is having healthy kids.

We are looking forward to bringing that to fruition in the bill shortly after the new year so that we can move forward.

Recently President Obama declared the H1N1 outbreak to be a national emergency.

Lack of paid sick days is also a crisis for America's working families.

Almost half of all private sector workers--including 79 percent of low-wage workers--have no paid sick days.

The lack of paid sick days is a crisis for public health that will make the H1N1 outbreak worse.