On the recordMarch 10, 2011
I want to thank the gentlelady, because I think it's really important for us to understand really who is the Federal worker. You know, what is it that they do? And as the gentlelady has pointed out, our food is safe because of Federal workers. The drugs that we take, whether they come over the counter or they're prescription drugs, they're safe because of a Federal worker. When that prediction is coming through for severe weather that hits the middle of our country in the most oppressive way, it's a Federal worker who analyzes that data and works really hard and really quickly to get that information out to the public. Federal workers also work in some of the most dangerous fields, in addition to being some of the most skilled fields in this country. You mentioned the work, the gentlelady did, the work of our nuclear scientists that Federal workers do, in our laboratories all across this country, not just in Washington, D.C., in States like Colorado and California and New Mexico, some of the highest level of scientific work that's going on in the country. So we have a skilled Federal workforce. And, you know, I was really shocked about this story that we have heard evolving in Wisconsin and the struggle of Wisconsin workers for collective bargaining rights that indeed on the committee on which we serve in Transportation, just a couple of weeks ago we were looking at an authorization for the Federal Aviation Administration.…





