Burgess Owens: “working families continue to suffer under the oppressive policies of the Republican-controlled White House and Congress.…”

“working families continue to suffer under the oppressive policies of the Republican-controlled White House and Congress. With a new low in cynicism, Republicans have made a mockery of the suffering of the jobless. The Republican unit of dirty tricks, deceitful slogans, and tricky titles has launched a new HOW initiative; Hire Our Workers, they call it. But Republicans refuse to support any of the actions that will relieve the suffering of working families. Instead of bombarding the Nation with new rope-a-dope slogans, Republicans should just do the right thing and support five basic actions: extend Federal unemployment benefits; end the current tax incentives for shipping jobs overseas; raise the minimum wage from $5.15 an hour to at least $7 an hour; enact a robust highway bill to create 1.8 million good-paying jobs; and invest more resources in key education and job training programs. Stop swindling the poor with words. Pass these five initiatives without further delay.”