Washington, D.C. – Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi and senior House Democrats have sent letters to nine separate U.S. retailers calling upon them to join a broadening global coalition supporting a May 12 Accord on Fire and Building Safety, developed by the Worker Rights Consortium and a number of key stakeholders.
"Here we are, 134 days into the 113th Congress, without one vote on a jobs bill. Fifty-four days after the Senate passed its budget, we still haven't moved forward to the budget process with this do nothing agenda that does not reflect the priorities of the American people. It is an agenda that only the Republicans are interested in pursuing. So, you see a series of subterfuges, job evasions. Today's job evasion is that the Republicans have decided to vote on the Patient's Rights Repeal Act, their 37th attempt to repeal our country's landmark reform bill. That's 37 votes, 43 days, $52 million – $52.4 million – on an obvious evasion of our responsibility to work on the priorities of the American people."
“…[W]e believe there is simply no substitute for tough, comprehensive, uncompromising government support for legislation and fully-resourced law enforcement and administrative action… that both empowers workers and prevents more accidents from happening,” write the lawmakers in the letter.
“First of all, it is our job to come here and act for the good of the American people. And right now the American people see that good as the creation of jobs. What is it, 134 days into this Congress? And the Republican majority has yet to put forth one bill, vote one bill out to create jobs, to have evasion. Here we are today with yet another one of their subterfuges: ‘let’s not talk about jobs. Let’s use up time.’ And that adds to – what has been up until now – $54 million dollars, 43, some days spent on this – the 37th effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act. What we should be doing is what the Republicans have asked for: regular order, to go to the budget table, to reconcile the differences between the House and the Senate, so that we can put forth a product, a budget that creates jobs, that reduces the deficit, that strengthens the middle class..."
"...it’s about how it affects women specifically, that we are talking about today, but those women are part of the nearly 13 million Americans benefitting from $1.1 billion in rebates from health insurance companies last summer..."
