Political Quotes

“I had been undecided on this bill. I am now going to vote against it. It is a far better bill than the one the House previously did. I still have concerns about the unequal effects on women. But I must tell you that I am very unprepared at this point to vote for one more piece of legislation that the corporate leadership of the country wants at a time when it has unfortunately been so resistant and unyielding to the cries many of us have made for some fairness and for some social justice. A company in the city I represent, New Bedford, we just learned, has been bought up by a larger entity and a profitable company will be shut down, jobs will be lost, and it will be moved away. In the right overall mix, I am prepared to support product liability. But at a time when the minimum wage is stonewalled, when unions are, in effect, dismantled by the misuse of the law by employers, when corporate salaries go up and up and up and we get no sympathy whatsoever for the plight of workers, I am not prepared to provide one more thing on the shopping list of those who are already doing well. On the merits, as part of an overall package, I could support this. I would hope it would be somewhat better drafted. But I will not at this point contribute, will not be part of furthering a public policy imbalance which says that those who own do better and better and those who work, unfortunately, are treated less and less fairly.”