VIDEO: Rep. Miller on house floor talking 'dangerous attack on middle class Americans

[Omaha Steve]

VIDEO: Rep. Miller on house floor talking 'dangerous attack on middle class Americans being waged by Republicans'

http://democrats.edworkforce.house.gov/blog/2011/03/video-rep-miller-on-house-floo.shtml

By
Levin, Brian

on March 2, 2011 10:45 AM

This morning, Rep. George Miller took to the floor to talk about the discuss the Republican attacks on middle class Americans. Check out the full transcript and video of his remarks below: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKonefQda7M&feature=player_embedded

TRANSCRIPT:

"Mr. Speaker, I rise today to highlight a very serious and dangerous attack on middle class Americans being waged by the Republicans in the Congress and in State Houses across the country.

The Wisconsin governor's assault on public employees is getting most of the media attention, but it is just one of the fronts of the extreme right-wing and anti-worker agenda trying to be carried out in this country. In fact, there is a well financed and coordinated national attack against working families in the unions they may belong to – the goal of which is to take away power from the middle class and give it to the wealthy special interests that have backed Republicans in their elections.

Here’s how it's playing out: The Republicans are taking a real problem, a serious problem, that of the budget deficits and long-term debt in this country, and they are assigning it to a fake cause. Under the guise of cutting deficits, they say the working people's union rights and workplace protections must be eliminated.

In fact, this attack against working people is designed to remove the vital check on special interest corporate power from overrunning our democracy. This is an extreme agenda that they have always pursued, but they are now using their newfound political power to relaunch the attacks – to attack the guarantee to a decent wage, to attack the rights to ensure a safe workplace so when the workers leave home in the morning, they know they will return safely at night. They attack the right to have access to affordable health care and secure retirement. And, yes, they are even attacking the rights of working people to join together and to bargain for a better life and better conditions in the workplace.


FULL info at link.

[The Wielding Truth]

1. Beautiful! This is the truth. Out loud honesty. I sounds so good to know someone gets it.

:kick: :fistbump: :applause:

[MedleyMisty]

2. You are a good person

So maybe I can bring this issue up with you in a civil manner and not get accused of being a troll.

It says "middle class" but later it goes on to say "working people".

I have to admit I've felt alienated and dismayed at all the "middle class" talk around lately. I am working class, and so is my family and my friends and the great majority of my home county.

It would have been nice if someone had gotten upset when the local factories went to 12 hour shifts. It would have been nice if someone had been upset when my mother, who is in her 60s, had to work in 100 degree heat in a place that went bankrupt and didn't pay her, and now at her current job she's working in near sweatshop conditions.

So - I guess - I feel like the people I care about have been spit on by everybody, the CEOs and their middle class managers. But if I talk about that in general, no doubt I will get called a troll who is just bitter and jealous because someone else's mother is living comfortably and easily in her retirement while mine is being worked to her death, and I must want the other person's mother to suffer as well.

I guess - what I'm trying to say is...I don't know. Just - please don't forget the working class. Please don't shut us out of this. It kind of gives me the idea that the middle class, should they win the current class war, plans on continuing to exploit us and destroy us and spit on us.

I love my mother. I will fight and die for her. Please don't make me fight you.

And if this isn't what you guys are doing - can you maybe help spread the word that the whole "middle class" framing has got to go? If you want the whole country behind you, if you really want the power of the people - please include those of us who work and suffer and give our lives for the scraps. Let my mother know you care about her too, and not just her boss.

This isn't a fight for the "middle class". This is a fight for humanity. Framing it as "middle class" contributes to class war and alienates the working class from the cause.

[siligut]

3. Your mother deserves decent working conditions

Everyone does. The greedy people who caused the economic downturn hurt most of us, but some more than others. Hopefully, the Koch brothers and their blatant grab for power has awakened more people to the extremes that the rich will go to to control this country and its wealth. Referring to the people as the middle class is just pertinent to the union situation happening across the country, but unlike when the rich are made richer, when the middle classes are secure, all classes are benefited.

[Omaha Steve]

4. Kick