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., 2024-07-17
E.g., 2024-07-17

[We are] certain [that] the large installed inventory which we depend upon in this country cannot survive. … We will see shutdowns of refrigeration equipment in supermarkets. … We will see shutdowns of chiller machines, which cool our large office buildings, our hotels, and hospitals.

-
The Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Institute, House Committee on Energy and Commerce. January, 1990.
01/01/1990 | Full Details

What is being created is a regulatory maze through which small business owners are expected to navigate, with no false steps or detours allowed.

-
Sally Douglas, Assistant Director of Governmental Relations for Research Policy for the National Federation of Independent Business. The Congressional Digest. December, 1989.
12/01/1989 | Full Details

Small firms who have hired persons with disabilities have found in most cases that the extra effort makes good economic sense. I have no doubt that, faced with the demands of the marketplace, many other small firms will soon learn the same lesson.

-
Sally Douglas, Assistant Director of Governmental Relations for Research Policy for the National Federation of Independent Business. The Congressional Digest. December, 1989.
12/01/1989 | Full Details

These changes will generate expenses that will ultimately be passed on to patients.

-
Avrum R. Goldstein, a periodontist with a practice in New Haven, in an op-ed piece.
11/12/1989 | Full Details

If you lose your tooth at home, you can leave it under your pillow for the tooth fairy. If the dentist removes it, the tooth fairy will have to consult the Government for its exact site.

-
Avrum R. Goldstein, a periodontist with a practice in New Haven, in an op-ed piece.
11/12/1989 | Full Details

Most importantly, these regulations will bring about changes in the dentist-patient relationship and make it more difficult to practice dentistry….Patients need a warm and trusting relationship with their dentist to help overcome their fears and make necessary dentistry possible. It will be more difficult to establish this relationship when the dentist is gowned, shielded and masked. While being suitable for controlling infection, these techniques may create a different barrier - one that will have a profound effect on the relationship between the dentist and patient.

-
Avrum R. Goldstein, a periodontist with a practice in New Haven, in an op-ed piece.
11/12/1989 | Full Details

When we pass minimum wage legislation it says one thing, Mr. Speaker: It says to the young black in the inner city, it says to the handicapped individual, it says to the young person looking for a first time job, unless you can meet a minimum standard, we will pass a law that says it is a violation of the Federal statute to hire such a person. Mr. Speaker, we can calculate to a certainty the number of people that we will unemploy by raising the minimum wage to various levels. At $4.50, at $5, at $6, hundreds of thousands of people are denied access to the job market. Minimum wage laws create unemployment. That is a mean, vicious thing to do.

-
Bob McEwen (R-OH), Congressional Record.
10/31/1989 | Full Details

This is going to be a lawyer’s paradise.

-
Senator Jesse Helms (R-NC), New York Times.
09/08/1989 | Full Details

Youth unemployment is three times the overall unemployment rate, and for minority youth it is much, much higher. Let us not make the problem worse by enacting a minimum wage which denies young people jobs.

-
Arthur Ravenel (R-SC), Congressional Record.
05/17/1989 | Full Details

We say we're trying to help the working poor while we actually will be helping young part-time workers. There is one thing, however, upon which there is agreement. Economists from all persuasions agree that increasing the minimum wage will mean lost jobs and it will mean inflation.

-
Harris Fawell (R-IL), Congressional Record.
05/16/1989 | Full Details

Pages