John Conyers: “the tone of bipartisanship the Republicans used to win control of Congress has ended. We saw a draft of this bill, which…”

“the tone of bipartisanship the Republicans used to win control of Congress has ended. We saw a draft of this bill, which is the largest reorganization of the Federal government in decades, only late yesterday afternoon. We were not given any opportunity to make improvements, and we now find ourselves on the House floor under a rule that prohibits amendments. I have more concerns with this legislation that I can count, but I will focus on three: the anti-labor, anti-immigration, and pro-corporate irresponsibility provisions. First, this legislation guts the civil services and collective bargaining protections that currently exist for Federal employees. It makes it difficult for employees of the Homeland Security Department to collective bargain for fair compensation. The argument from the other side seems to be that employees who have rights might not be able to do their jobs effectively. But does anyone remember who the heroes of September 11 were? It was the firefighters and police officers of New York and Virginia, all of whom were members in good standing of organized labor. Can anyone suggest that their civil service and union protections did anything to weaken their resolve? Of course not.”