Republicans

Republicans

Commentary

Vote for Paid Sick Leave

The Real Agenda Behind Voter Suppression

October 05, 2011

Colorado Secretary of State, Republican Scott Gessler, is suing the city of Denver to prevent the registrar of voters from mailing ballots for a measure on paid sick leave to voters that missed the last election. The initiative would allow full-time workers to earn nine days of paid sick leave per year. Part time workers and employees of small businesses would have fewer days.

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Living Wage has brought good competition to Los Angeles International Airport

L.A.'s Living Wage Ordinance Isn't a Job Killer

September 21, 2011

Despite the dire warnings of former Mayor Richard Riordan, the L.A. Chamber of Commerce and many other business organizations, which opposed requiring airport contractors to pay a living wage, competition for LAX food concessions is more vigorous than ever. More proof that businesses and good wages and benefits for workers can coexist.

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US Capitol building

Darrel Issa’s Government Handover

January 05, 2011

By Donald Cohen and Peter Dreier. Posted on Huffington Post. January 5, 2011.

Newly emboldened as chair of the House’s key investigative committee, California Cong. Darrell Issa, the conservative Republican, sent letters to more than 150 business lobby groups, asking them to identify government rules that they want eliminated.

Issa wants to hand the government over to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and a who’s who of corporate America. The new Republican Congress is their opportunity to get rid of those pesky environmental laws, consumer product safety laws and even rules to prevent another Wall St. financial train wreck.

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Cry Wolf Quotes

I know those packing houses as well as I know the corridors of the capitol [i.e.: not particularly well, he only served one term in DC]...there is not a kitchen of a rich man in this city, or any other, that is any cleaner, if it is as clean, as those places...Of course, you know the sort of men many of the laborers in the packing houses are—foreigners of a low grade of intelligence...If those men happen to spit, they are likely to spit, but it doesn’t go on the meat.

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Rep. Charles Wharton (R-IL), congressman for Chicago’s meat-packing district.
05/26/1906 | Full Details | Law(s): Meat Inspection Act of 1906

We must also recognize that mandated benefits may limit the ability of some employers to provide other benefits of importance to their employees. The number of innovative benefit plans will continue to grow as employers endeavor to attract and keep skilled workers. Mandated benefits raise the risk of stifling the development of such innovative benefit plans.

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President George H.W. Bush’s message from his first veto of the FMLA.
06/29/1990 | Full Details | Law(s): Family Medical Leave Act

The ADA also mandates job accommodation financed by employers. Employers will be forced to restructure existing facilities, restructure jobs, hire readers, signers, and assistants in order to accommodate over 900 physical and mental impairments. This converts a civil rights measure into a mandated benefits program for the disabled. It is time we ask ourselves what `reasonable accommodation' means for American businesses. The real cost to the nation would be higher costs of production, fewer jobs, lower real wage rates, lower levels of output and income, and a weaker competitive position for the U.S. business in the world market place.

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Ron Marlenee (R-MT) speaking to the House of Representatives. The Americans With Disabilities Act.
05/24/1990 | Full Details | Law(s): Americans With Disabilities Act

Clearly, this is a job-killer in the short-run. The revenues forecast for this budget will not materialize; the costs of this budget will be greater than what is forecast. The deficit will be worse, and it is not a good omen for the American economy. The impact on job creation is going to be devastating, and the American young people in particular will suffer a fairly substantial deferment of their lives because there simply won't be jobs for the next two to three years to go around to our young graduates across the country.

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Rep. Dick Armey, CNN
08/02/1993 | Full Details | Law(s): Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993
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Evidence

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