Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I rise to discuss partly the state of our economy but more precisely the state of our workers. Working Americans are in some sense being attacked from both ends. We have seen an orchestrated attempt to cut safety net programs where a low-income worker making $9, $10, or $11 an hour might be eligible in some cases for SNAP or is surely eligible for the earned income tax credit. Opponents strongly say that programs such as SNAP foster a culture of dependency and do not reward work. Those same elected officials--some of whom, I might add, have voted to raise their own pay--oppose efforts to ensure that hard work is reworded with fair pay. Last fall one House Republican said: If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat. I am all for quoting Scripture. I do not think it should be used to vilify hard-working people. Detractors of SNAP, opponents of the minimum wage, cannot have it both ways. By raising the minimum wage, it means, frankly, fewer people will be eligible for SNAP, because if their wages are higher, they cannot and should not be eligible for certain benefits. So we create opportunities for Americans to earn a living wage and no longer need those benefits. One hundred years ago in January, Henry Ford, in 1914, announced that he was going to pay his workers $5 a day. Nobody thought, when they looked at Henry Ford and his life, nobody thought he was doing it out of the kindness of his heart.…”