Russ Feingold: “They are not the people who so many people like to rail against who are not willing to work who can work; these are…”

“They are not the people who so many people like to rail against who are not willing to work who can work; these are people who work, who have worked hard, who report to work every day, many of whom have to have both parents working to make ends meet. They are trying awfully hard to make it. All they want is to know that this country, whether it be a Democrat majority or a Republican majority, is committed to helping them get to work and have a job and make an honest living. I thought that is what this whole welfare debate is about; that everybody is better off if they are working and that if they are not working, they are taking advantage of the rest of us. That is what I thought it was about. I thought that is why so many working people are frustrated and irritated by our current welfare system. What kind of a mixed message is it to kick people who are working and not guarantee them the right to strike at the same time you tell them get back to work and help us out in this society by working and paying your taxes and make our economy go? It does not add up. This Republican agenda is contradictory.”