On the recordSeptember 16, 2014
I thank my colleague and dear friend from Michigan for the great work she has done as chair and vice chair of the DPCC. We have worked very hard on this ``fair shot'' agenda. We believe it is resonating with the American people. When our colleagues on the other side of the aisle oppose simple measures such as a fair shot at getting out of poverty if a person works 40 hours a week, a fair shot for a woman to get equal pay to a man, and a fair shot to prevent jobs from being sent overseas to get a tax break, they know what we are talking about. Perhaps no issue resonates more than a fair shot for people to be able to afford college and then repay their loans with a reasonable amount of money. Probably the greatest problem America faces is the decline of middle- class incomes. They have been declining since 2001. If they continue to decline for another decade, whoa is America, whoa is America. America has been expanded--has grown to the greatest country in the world on the notion of opportunity. In my harbor sits a lady with a torch. That torch symbolizes the American dream to just about every American and most citizens in the world. What is the American dream? What does that torch symbolize? If we ask the average American, they wouldn't put it in fancy words or highfalutin language. They would say: It means if I work hard, I will be doing better 10 years from now than I am doing today, and my kids will be doing better than I.…





