Political Quotes

“First of all, I want to thank Chairman Neal and Chairman Scott for bringing this bill to the floor, and my colleague, Debbie Dingell, and Dr. Roe who sat on the supercommittee last time to address this. The Butch Lewis Act is a bill that makes sure that those Americans receive the wages that they earned. This is not a handout. These are deferred dreams, deferred wages that they said they will put aside during their active career so that they can live out the American Dream; those golden years, those pension years. They are deferred wages. I know firsthand. Over 3 years ago, my very first speech on the House floor was right here talking about pensions. For 37 years, I have been a member of a multiemployer plan, as a rank-and-file worker, and as a negotiator. I understand how they work. But the cost of doing nothing to the taxpayers is far greater than the loans we are giving out now. We bailed out the banks, gave them billions of dollars, but the people who earn these, who did nothing wrong, you are saying no to. We cannot screw the people who earned the wages. It is important for us to pass this because they did nothing wrong. They played by the rules. That is what we do in America. {time} 1730 This is not a grand conspiracy. This is about doing the right thing for the right people, for America.”