Mr. President, America has the best, brightest, and most dedicated workers in the world. All those workers need is a fair shot to succeed. But right now many workers in this country don't enjoy the same rights as the wealthy CEOs; that is,…
Mr. President, America has the best, brightest, and most dedicated workers in the world. All those workers need is a fair shot to succeed. But right now many workers in this country don't enjoy the same rights as the wealthy CEOs; that is, the right to negotiate the terms of their employment.
A new rule from the National Labor Relations Board will remove unnecessary obstacles to workers' rights to form a union. I solidly support this rule, and I urge my colleagues to vote tomorrow against the resolution of disapproval which strikes down this commonsense rule.
The new rule doesn't change or do anything to encourage unions, but it doesn't discourage them either. It just gives workers the ability to vote yes or no while minimizing the chance of intimidation and stalling.
Mr. President, tomorrow the Senate will vote on a number of amendments to a bipartisan postal reform bill. This important legislation will safeguard more than 8 million jobs of people who depend on a vibrant postal system. It will also protect postal customers--particularly elderly and disabled Americans and people who live in rural parts of this country.
I am pleased we reached an agreement to allow Senators to offer amendments to this bill. I hope once we work through the amendments to the bill tomorrow we will see a strong bipartisan vote to modernize the Postal Service and save this important institution from insolvency. This institution is so important it is contained in our Constitution.
Once we pass postal reform tomorrow, as I expect we will, the Senate will move on to the consideration of another very important piece of legislation, the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act. Since its passage in 1994, this legislation has reduced the annual incidence of domestic violence by more than 50 percent.
Despite that incredible progress, we still have work to do to keep women and their families safe. Three women die in this country every day at the hands of abusive partners--on weekends, all days, no days off. For every victim who is killed there are nine more who narrowly escape death and are beaten savagely. It would be unacceptable to step back from our national commitment to stop violence and abuse now.
This legislation was the brainchild of Vice President Joe Biden when he was a Member of the Senate. It does very important work. For example, it allows communities to get support in setting up shelters for these women and their families to go in secret.
The legislation was unanimously reauthorized by the Senate in 2000 and 2005. This effort should be--and traditionally has been--above partisanship. I hope that proves to be the case again this year. This year it has 60 cosponsors and the support of 47 State attorneys general. I cannot imagine why my Republican colleagues would oppose such a worthy piece of legislation. I am hopeful and I am confident they won't.
By joining Democrats to pass this legislation, Republicans can help us send a clear message that this country doesn't tolerate domestic violence. If the Senate doesn't complete the work on this critical issue before we recess
for this work period, we will continue after we come back to try to work through any problems. I don't see any, Mr. President.
But the Violence Against Women Act isn't the only pressing matter the Senate has to complete the next work period. We must begin work on a number of appropriations bills, consider additional judicial nominations, and take up legislation to cut taxes for small businesses so that they can expand and hire.
Cybersecurity legislation, I have been told, the House will take up soon, and I appreciate that. We must address the looming crisis for millions of students in America: the July 1 deadline for interest rates to double on Federal student loans. That is fast approaching.
With middle-class families struggling and fewer families able to afford the rising cost of higher education, we cannot afford to put college out of reach for more promising young people. Doubling interest rates from 3.4 percent to 6.8 percent--effectively socking 7.4 million students with $1,000 a year in student loan costs--would do irreparable harm to our ability to educate young men and women.
Today Americans have more student loan debt than credit card debt. Why would we want to double what they pay? The average graduate owes $25,000 when they graduate. Getting a college education should not burden young people with unsustainable debt. Unfortunately, many of my Republican colleagues have signaled that they would rather cut taxes for the richest of the rich than invest in the next generation of American workers. But the business community agrees that making college affordable is the key to keeping America competitive in a global economy. An investment in education is an investment in our economy.
I hope we will all join together, hear the message, and work to stop 8 million students in this country from having an increase in the amount of money they are obligated to pay back for the loans they get for an education in America today.