Political Quotes

“I want to recognize the fact that the gentleman from Connecticut (Mr. Shays) is my friend. And while I appreciate the fact that the gentleman's amendment mirrors mine almost exactly, unfortunately he has chosen to include one extra sentence which I see as the escape clause which negates the point of my amendment. In the amendment that I will offer, I allow the union rights of existing employees transferred to the new Department of Homeland Security who have the same duties to remain in place. It kind of grandfathers them in. The Shays amendment has a loophole in that it would allow the union rights to be stripped for ambiguous reasons. Presently, two sections of title 5 provide for administrative actions to disallow union membership for certain classes of Federal employees. Section 7103 allows the President to issue an executive order taking away title 5 labor management rights, including the right to be in a union for agency or subdivisions for national security reasons. Section 7112 of title 5 makes the bargaining unit inappropriate for numerous reasons, including the performance of national security duties.”