Political Quotes

“Mr. Chairman, a couple of comments on remarks made earlier by the gentleman from Massachusetts. The unions do not speak with one voice on this issue. We have received correspondence from the AFL-CIO locals that represent the correctional officers in the prisons who are very much against this bill. The prisoners do not have any lobbyists on Capitol Hill, and perhaps for purposes of this debate I can appoint myself as their lobbyist because I do have a perspective on the prison and prisoners and what their future and what their present could be. One of the most memorable events in my life was attending a graduation ceremony of prisoners in the Cook County jail where these young men marched to the tune of 'The Impossible Dream' in their secondhand graduation robes where they were getting an eighth grade diploma. Some of them had been taught how to read, something that their education had missed. The room was filled with employers who were going to see that these people, who tried to put their time in jail to use, were going to have some hope instead of despair when they left the prison. Yes, this is a Federal subsidy of prison industries, but we rush to subsidize the farmer, or we rush to subsidize research at universities and education. Subsidies are not alien to this body. But the social good that comes from prison industries, it seems to me, outweighs any distaste for a Federal subsidy.”