Carol Shea-Porter: “it is my honor to be on the committee that has brought this bill forward, and I urge my fellow Congressmen and -women to…”

“it is my honor to be on the committee that has brought this bill forward, and I urge my fellow Congressmen and -women to say ``yes'' to this bill. What this bill is doing is finally representing the working men and women of America. It is finally giving them an opportunity to once again regain a decent wage and to regain benefits. It is critical for our country and for our middle class to have this bill passed, but there is reason for this also. Because when people have worked in factories before without union representation, they worked under extremely difficult circumstances. In the early 1970s, I worked in a factory during the summers when I was in college. And I saw people come in and try to form a union, and I saw them get fired as soon as they heard about it. And so the people who had to work there day after day, year after year had to suffer under some pretty terrible conditions that most people would not accept. So the union is critical and the support for it is critical. But I also support the idea that people can vote out in public. And I vehemently disagree that this will in some way harm individuals. I live in New Hampshire; and in New Hampshire, many of the towns still have town hall meetings. You stand there publicly and you vote. And nobody experiences any great tragedy for speaking as a body and as an individual in that body to say what direction they want their town to go in.”