Newsroom Speeches and Floor Statements Extension of Remarks: Congressional Agenda Reflects Its Values | Extension of Remarks: Congressional Agenda Reflects Its Values |
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THE CONGRESSIONAL AGENDA REFLECTS ITS VALUES HON. DAVID R. OBEY
Mr. Speaker, we have heard a lot of talk on this House floor about values. I would suggest that how we spend our time reveals our values in many ways. This Republican-controlled Congress was able to take the time to debate the fate of horses. They were able to take the time to provide $290 billion in tax relief for 7,500 of the richest people in the country each year. They were able to take the time to provide new tax breaks for oil companies. But there was no time, apparently, for providing comprehensive health care reform, and there was certainly no time, apparently, to provide an increase in the minimum wage, which has been frozen for 9 years. The CEOs from your wealthiest corporations in this country earn more in 4 hours than a minimum wage worker earns in an entire year. And yet the Republican majority found the time to make life easier for the most well-off 1 percent of people in this country, but no time at all to help those who need it most. What kind of values does that represent?
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