Quotes

The Cry Wolf Quote Bank chronicles the false predictions and hyperbole by opponents of these laws and protections.  While the issues and specific policies change over time, the rhetoric and themes remained the same.  You can search the Quote Bank for what opponents said to prevent these laws from passing. Using the drop down menus on the right their statements by issue, by specific law, by who said it and by the core themes they evoke.   Elsewhere on the site, you can find articles, studies, and other material that debunks their claims. 

E.g., 2024-04-25
E.g., 2024-04-25

[The Democrats’] vision for the future: socialized medicine and Washington-run health care.

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Representative Pete Sessions (R-TX), The New York Times.
08/02/2007 | Full Details

As a small-business owner, you are most likely too busy to be able to take the time to carefully review the Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2007, a complicated, vague bill that will have harmful effects on small business. As you'll soon learn, the Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2007 is anything but fair to small business. Tell your senator to vote ‘NO’ on this erroneous piece of legislation.

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From an NFIB letter to their members.
08/01/2007 | Full Details

By paying workers who take extended time off from the job for almost any sort of family concern, this mandate would impose significant costs in the form of payments for replacement workers, including overtime. It would disrupt work schedules and leave difficult gaps in staffing for small and large companies…It's already hard enough to do business and provide jobs in New York state. Our leaders in Albany should not make it still harder.

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Kenneth Adams, President and CEO of The Business Council of New York State, Syracuse’s The Post-Standard.
06/22/2007 | Full Details

This socialist diktat takes feel-good politics to a new level….the basic argument for this socialist propaganda is the necessity for Big Brother to subsidize an army of breastfeeding single mothers….Ultimately, the inevitable impact of the cost of the paid family leave measure will fall on the shoulders of the ever-diminishing minority in this state: those who build businesses and create the real jobs that sustain our economy. You know, the ones moving to Florida and other states with no state income tax and few of the ridiculous government regulations that make New Jersey the worst state in the nation for small business.

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Steven Lonegan, Republican mayor of Bogota and executive director of Americans for Prosperity, The Bergen County Record
06/12/2007 | Full Details

When disagreements and disputes in the workplace fester and potential damage amounts increase, compromise and cooperation become far more difficult. Ms. Ledbetter claimed, however, that she was entitled by a special ‘paycheck rule’ applicable only to claims of alleged pay discrimination, to sleep on her rights for decades before raising her concerns with the EEOC.

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Neal D. Mollen, counsel for Chamber of Commerce, testimony, House Committee on Education and Labor.
06/12/2007 | Full Details

By contrast, the dissent’s argument that a discrimination plaintiff can sue based on each paycheck she receives, if her current paycheck was somehow affected by discrimination in the distant past, would allow plaintiffs to sue based on discrimination that occurred decades before, even if the employer is innocent, the alleged discriminators have all died, and the employer no longer has access to any evidence that could vindicate it…That is fundamentally unfair, and at odds with the whole purpose of having a statute of limitations.

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The Competitive Enterprise Institute.
05/30/2007 | Full Details

I’m scared that this provision will add a pretty significant cost. You’re going to see a lot of small guys just close up shop.

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Bill K. Caylor, president of the Kentucky Coal association. International Herald Tribune.
05/18/2007 | Full Details

Most businesses would tell you that they presently take care of their employees. They don't need government telling them how to do it.

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Gary Chandler, vice president for governmental affairs at the Association of Washington Business. The Associated Press State & Local Wire.
04/22/2007 | Full Details

The Children's Health Insurance Program has given Democrats a wide-open door for socialized medicine. The door was left open by Republicans, who were in the majority when we passed the original legislation in 1997.

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Rep. Jack Kingston [R-GA], The New York Times.
04/01/2007 | Full Details

We want to take the message to the public and the San Francisco residents to let them know how close to the tipping point the restaurant industry is.

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Kevin Westlye, executive director of the Golden Gate Restaurant Association. San Francisco Chronicle
03/24/2007 | Full Details

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