Minimum Wage Fairness Act - Motion to Proceed

Floor Speech

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Mr. President, I wish to take a moment to offer condolences to those affected by this week's storms. Tornadoes struck a terrible blow in several towns, and we are thinking today of all of those who were killed and injured and their friends and families as well.

JOBS

Mr. President, the American people want Congress to focus on one thing above all else: Jobs. Jobs. One would think the Democrats who control the Senate would want to help us advance bipartisan ideas to boost job creation. One would think they would actually work with us to address the concerns and anxieties of our constituents. But, instead, Senate Democrats are pushing legislation this week that would actually cost--not create but actually cost--up to a million American jobs.

This is completely tone deaf. Their bill would cost up to 17,000 jobs in Kentucky alone. Apparently, this is what Senate Democrats have made their top priority. It is not much of a surprise, though. As I have said many times, Washington Democrats often seem to hurt the very people they claim to be fighting for. When it comes to so many of their proposals, Washington Democrats appear to prioritize the desires of the far left over the needs of the middle class. Let's be honest. The interests of the far left and the interests of the middle class seem to be in fierce opposition these days.

Take the Keystone Pipeline, for example. The Obama administration recently announced yet another punt on this critical jobs project--one that would lead to the creation of thousands--literally thousands--of good jobs. Why? Because of pressure from the far left. One union leader called the administration's decision ``a cold, hard slap in the face for hard-working Americans.'' Another labor leader, whose union endorsed the President twice, put it this way: ``No one seriously believes that the administration's nearly-dark-of-night announcement ..... was anything but politically motivated. It represented,'' he said, ``another low blow to the working men and women of our country for whom the Keystone XL Pipeline is a lifeline to good jobs and to energy security. ..... ''

Here is a project the government has been studying for 5 or 6 years now. For 5 or 6 years they have been studying this project.

Americans have learned that building Keystone would produce significant economic benefit for our country, that it would lower energy prices, and that it would lead to the creation of thousands of jobs at a time when we need them more than ever. President Obama's own administration has concluded that approving Keystone would not significantly impact net carbon emissions anyway. Approving the project wouldn't have an adverse impact on carbon emissions.

So one would think Washington Democrats would join the large majority of Americans who say Keystone is a good deal for our country. One would think they would jump at the chance to advance sound policy that has already been thoroughly vetted. But, then, we would be missing the point because Democrats' opposition to Keystone isn't really about policy at all. They basically surrendered the policy argument a long time ago. That is not really what this is about for them. Remember: This is the same party that effectively conceded its agenda for the rest of this year was drafted by campaign staffers. The whole agenda for the rest of the year was drafted by campaign staffers. They said that.

So for them this is more about politics and symbolism, and the far left has apparently decided that killing Keystone is the symbolic scalp they want. In fact, they are demanding it. Washington Democrats seem perfectly willing to go along.

Of course, the big loser in all of this is the American middle class--the moms and dads and sisters and brothers whose primary concern is paying the bills and putting food on the table. These are the people who have had it worse in the Obama economy--the very people Washington Democrats should be doing literally everything to help.

What I am saying to my colleagues today is it is not too late. They can still work with Republicans to create more opportunity and to help us rebuild the middle class, but to do so they need to abandon the left and start focusing on the middle class for a change. If they are ready to get serious about job creation, then there are some easy ways to demonstrate that to the American people. For starters, they can stop pushing legislation that would cut rather than create jobs, and they can stop blocking projects such as Keystone--a project that almost everyone knows will create jobs.

Americans want jobs, not symbolism. So start working with us to give the American people the kind of pro-jobs policies they want and deserve.

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