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.
...the result of such programs in other countries had been over utilization of facilities and rising costs, and that as emphasis shifted from quality to cost, as it must under a publicly financed program, a deterioration in the quality of care is inescapable.
These bills, if enacted, will have a profound impact upon this great industry. Unwise legislation in this field could produce repercussions which would be felt throughout the country’s economy. I am confident that the Congress will exercise great care before taking any action which would seriously disrupt this important industry….We are strongly opposed to these bills. We do not believe that any governmental action is necessary or called for with respect to cigarette advertising or labeling.
If there is to be a caution notice….It should be stated in a way which reflects the lack of definitive clinical and laboratory scientific evidence on the relationship between smoking and health.
The general public wants both blue water in the streams and adequate employment for the community. The older plant may not be able to afford the investment in waste treatment facilities necessary to provide blue water; the only alternative may be to shut the operation down. But the employees of the plant and the community cannot afford to have the plant shut down. They cannot afford to lose the employment furnished by the operation.
It is socialism. It moves the country in a direction which is not good for anyone, whether they be young or old. It charts a course from which there will be no turning back.
Will you resist the temptation to get a government handout for your community? Realize that the doctor's fight against socialized medicine is your fight. We can't socialize the doctors without socializing the patients. Recognize that government invasion of public power is eventually an assault upon your own business.
By its attempt to regulate and govern the private businesses, which are miscalled public accommodations in the bill, this proposal would inject the Government into the most sensitive areas of human contractual relations—agreements for personal services. In so doing, constitutional interpretations of long standing are being swept aside in favor of tortuous rationalizations which studiously ignore the constitutionally-forbidden imposition of involuntary servitude on citizens
The two portions of this bill to which I have constantly and consistently voiced objections, and which are of such overriding significance that they are determinative of my vote on the entire measure, are those which would embark the Federal Government on a regulatory course of action with regard to private enterprise in the area of so-called public accommodations and in the area of employment—to be more specific, titles II and VII of the bill. I find no constitutional basis for the exercise of Federal regulatory authority in either of these areas; and I believe the attempted usurpation of such power to be a grave threat to the very essence of our basic system of government; namely, that of a constitutional republic in which 50 sovereign States have reserved to themselves and to the people those powers not specifically granted to the Central or Federal Government.
This is an unprecedented threat to American traditions, and is aimed at forcing civil rights compliance in the South by authorizing the cutting off of funds in all financial assistance programs. Procedures in the title are devoid of due process of law. It states too broad a policy without defining ‘discrimination.’ Moreover, it authorizes an alternative court enforcement to bureaucrats who pronounce regulations approved by the President, whereas these matters should be promulgated, if at all, by act of Congress.
These reports, of course, deal only with the surface exposure of Communist influence in the Negro movement. The actual extent and degree, while obviously substantial, remain unknown, for Congress has chosen to pretend that there is no such problem, even while methodically and relentlessly seeking to satisfy the demands of the very militant groups in which the Communist influence exists. Mr. President, the Nation, and even the Congress, once its hypnotic trance has passed, will find that in this bill are the seeds of destruction of a political system which has served its people better than has any other ever devised.
