Political Quotes

“I rise today to call to the attention of my colleagues an issue that is very important to my district and to the rest of America, and that issue is jobs. Sometime within the next several months, 2,000 workers in Wilkes-Barre, PA, employed at Leslie Fay, Inc., will probably receive the proverbial pink slip indicating that their employment is no longer necessary. They will have lost their jobs in the garment industry to some country such as Guatemala or Mexico, or some other country that can compete at a lower wage than the United States. This, Mr. Speaker, is the tragedy facing many Americans today. One of the major challenges that this Congress must face is that of creating job opportunities for Americans and reforming our existing programs to see that jobs are available. I call my colleagues' attention to the Reemployment Act of 1994, an initiative of President Clinton and the Secretary of Labor and this Congress which is second to none. It moves away from the old principal of unemployment compensation, and the maintenance of unemployment, and moves toward reemploying people by providing one-stop shopping and the opportunity to retrain, re-skill, and move people from one industry and one job opportunity into another. I urge my colleagues to support the President and the leadership of the Congress and join in supporting the Reemployment Act of 1994.”