Political Quotes

“Reserving the right to object, I am happy to see a number of Republican colleagues come to the floor. We have been talking about this issue for days now and to discuss, I thought, the subject of equal pay for women. But there has been no talk about equal pay for women. The closest of anything in that regard that has been suggested has been a bill that says if you have to work overtime, then you have a choice of going home or doing the overtime. The reason we don't have laws like that is because the employer can take advantage of the employee because the employee is at the beck and call of the employer, and I think most labor laws would protect against that now. I am surprised we have literally heard no one come to the floor except on the one occasion--and I could have missed it--where the Republican Senator made the statement that Senator Mikulski's legislation was a trial lawyer's dream. The women who have come to the floor to talk about this--and the men who have come to talk about this today, including the Presiding Officer, and I heard his statement--are simply trying to say we need to be sure this is a fair shot for the middle class, and in this instance it is women. But the Republicans always want to change the subject. Why don't we have a debate on whether women are entitled to have the same pay as men? The Senate is debating the motion to proceed to the equal pay bill, so the question before the Senate is whether we should even begin debate on this matter.…”