[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 120 (Monday, July 24, 1995)]
[House]
[Page H7465]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                 A DECLARATION TO THE REPUBLICAN PARTY

  Ms. FURSE. Mr. Speaker, last week, members of the Steel Workers Union 
came to see me and they brought with them what they called a 
declaration to the Republican Party. These are not my words. They are 
their words. They are the almost 1 million strong steel workers who 
represent so many of our working people.
  This is what they said, and I quote:

       We of the United Steel Workers of America, we work in the 
     steel mills, rubber plants, chemical plants, mines, 
     hospitals, offices, in workplaces large and small all over 
     this land; it is we and the millions of working people just 
     like us, active and retired, who have built this country and 
     created the prosperity that has made the United States of 
     America the beacon of hope and freedom for all people.
       We believe with the founders of our Nation that we are 
     endowed with certain inalienable rights, amongst which are 
     the rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, and 
     we believe that these rights include the rights of workers to 
     have jobs, with fair wages and safe and healthy workplaces, 
     the right to a job which is safe, the right of workers to 
     organize in unions, the right of children to grow up free of 
     poverty and be educated for fulfilling lives, the right of 
     all citizens to be free of discrimination, whatever their 
     race, religion or sex, the right of those who have completed 
     a productive life to enjoy their retirements, and the right 
     of all citizens to health care, the right of all of us to 
     clean air, clean water, and a clean environment.

  Mr. Speaker, the Steel Workers go on to say, and I quote:

       We come here today to declare that the Republican Party has 
     declared war on us and all our brothers and sisters across 
     this great land. It has declared war on our families and on 
     our communities.

  They go on to say:

       You would tear down the agencies that guarantee our right 
     to decent jobs in safe workplaces. You would eliminate our 
     right to organize. You would deny our children's hopes for 
     education. You would deprive our senior citizens of security. 
     You would rip up the laws that have gone so far to erase our 
     Nation's bitter heritage of racism and discrimination. You 
     would convert our environment from a priceless gift to be 
     preserved to an economic resource to be raped and exploited. 
     You would encourage the rich to get richer and condemn the 
     poor to get poorer. You would do these things by turning over 
     our country to the greedy. You would sell our heritage to the 
     corporations whose lobbyists you cater to. You would 
     undermine every piece of socially responsible legislation 
     that we and our predecessors struggle to achieve.

  The Steel Workers of America end by saying: ``You have declared war 
on us, the working people of America,'' and I end quote.
  Mr. Speaker, I want to say, these are not my words, but they are the 
words of many, many of my constituents. They are the words of the Steel 
Workers of America, almost 1 million strong.


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