Providing for Consideration of H.Res. Expressing Disapproval of the Trump Administration's Harmful Actions Towards Medicaid; Providing for Consideration of H.R. Protecting the Right to Organize Act of and Providing for Consideration of H.R. Emergency Supplemental Appropriations for Disaster Relief and Puerto Rico Disaster Tax Relief Act, 2020

Floor Speech

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Mr. CONNOLLY. Madam Speaker, I thank my good friend from California for his leadership, especially in bringing before us the Protecting the Right to Organize Act of 2019.

Right now, in my home State, the Virginia General Assembly is engaged in a big debate about whether to repeal the right-to-work laws that have dominated our State for so many years, a repeal I have long supported.

That is why, today, I am proud to stand with my good friend and fellow Virginian, Chairman Bobby Scott, in supporting this bill, the Protecting the Right to Organize Act.

Unions have been the backbone of a just and equitable economy. Their hard work gave us the 5-day workweek. Their hard work gave us safer working conditions. Their hard work helps deliver fair wages and better access to healthcare. But this isn't just an economic issue. It is also a question of civil rights. Society itself is freer when workers are empowered to band together and negotiate for better pay, benefits, and working conditions.

I might say, even in those States that are not right-to-work States, it is hard to organize, but when you impose a right-to-work law, then you have really stacked the odds in the ability of working men and women to organize themselves.

This is Black History Month, and I am reminded of these words from Dr. Martin Luther King: ``In our glorious fight for civil rights, we must guard against being fooled by false slogans, such as `right-to- work.' . . . Wherever these laws have been passed, wages are lower, job opportunities are fewer, and there are no civil rights. We do not intend to let them do this to us. We demand this fraud be stopped. Our weapon is our vote.''

Dr. King was right. Our weapon is our vote, and today, we are going to exercise that weapon and strike a blow for working men and women and for restoring the constitutional right of working men and women to organize freely and benefit this economy and benefit the quality of lives for people in communities all across this great land.

Madam Speaker, I thank my friend from California for giving me the time. I urge passage of the bill, and I support the rule underlying it.

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