Byron Dorgan: “there is no social program in this country as important as a good job that pays well. That is just a fact. Having a job…”

“there is no social program in this country as important as a good job that pays well. That is just a fact. Having a job that pays well, with some job security, is the way we expand opportunity in this country and allow someone to be able to take care of their family. We are told by those who offer this legislation that there are jobs Americans won't take, that we don't have enough workers and we should bring in workers from outside of our country. Well, it is true there are jobs, for example, at the lower end of the economic scale where businesses that offer those jobs don't want to pay anything for those jobs, and so they do not have people rushing to beat down the door to get those jobs. They do not have to pay a decent wage for those jobs if they can keep bringing in cheap labor. That is what is at work here in the guest worker program. I thought supply and demand was something that was cherished and embraced by the people who most strongly support this. Supply and demand. So if you are having trouble finding workers for a job, you raise the price, you raise the wage. Do my colleagues know what is happening to workers in this country? Their productivity has gone way up. We have had dramatic gains in productivity by workers. Has their income gone up? No, not at all, especially those at the bottom. There is downward pressure on their income. Why? Because we are told we can have an almost inexhaustible supply of cheap labor coming into this country.”