Economic Growth (Cong. Rec., July 12, 2021)

Summary

Page S4819 of the Senate section of the Congressional Record for July 12, 2021, in interleaved columns, headed Economic Growth. A roll call shows the end of a vote with 23 nays and 6 not voting. A tribute honors Miss Elsie Steward and the Marching Mothers of Hillsboro, whose advocacy led a court to order school integration, and notes her induction into the Ohio Civil Rights Hall of Fame. Another speaker says workers are gaining bargaining power, that the American Rescue Plan saved union pensions, and that corporations had all the power for decades, while a further passage criticizes the Cuban government and its health care system.

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“Economic Growth (Cong. Rec., July 12, 2021).” Original at www.govinfo.gov. Archived at Pandemic Darlings, https://pandemicdarlings.com/source-documents/crec-crec-2021-07-12-crec-2021-07-12-pt1-pgs4819-2-ac87afabf7/, SHA-256 ffb0c85ece09189ebf87474922a69f9a00042a6fbf0e5c3f1586305f97124ae0.

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July 12, 2021 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE S4819
Ossoff Sasse Toomey Because of Miss Elsie and her fellow We are starting to see signs of in-
Padilla Schatz Van Hollen
Peters Schumer Warner
mothers’ advocacy, the Court ordered creased bargaining power for American
Portman Scott (SC) Warnock the schools to integrate and paved the workers: power to negotiate higher
Reed Shaheen Warren way for integration in other northern pay, solid working conditions, better
Risch Sinema Whitehouse cities. benefits, more control over their sched-
Romney Smith Wicker
Rosen Stabenow Her activism showed us why ordinary ules, opportunities for career advance-
Wyden
Rounds Tester
Young
students and ordinary citizens—what ment, all the things that turn into
Sanders Thune they can achieve when they join to- good, stable, middle-class careers.
NAYS—23 gether to fight for justice. I want to see employers competing
Barrasso Hagerty Marshall It is a reminder of how far we have for workers. That is a good thing. It is
Blackburn Hawley Paul come, how much work we have to do to how you get rising wages, which get
Boozman Hoeven Rubio achieve justice and opportunity for all spent in the community and then cre-
Cotton Johnson Scott (FL)
Cramer Kennedy
children in our country. ate growth for everyone, whether in
Shelby
Cruz Lankford Sullivan
Three years ago, Elsie Steward Sante Fe or Columbus.
Daines Lee Tuberville Young was inducted into the Ohio Civil For decades, corporations have had
Ernst Lummis Rights Hall of Fame. That fall, we hon- all the power in our economy. It is
NOT VOTING—6 ored the Marching Mothers of Hillsboro going to take a lot of work to undo
Booker Cassidy Murkowski and the children—of course, now those decades of bad trade and tax pol-
Braun Inhofe Tillis adults—who marched. We honored icy that gave corporations every single
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. them with our office’s Canary Award at day the upper hand.
HEINRICH). On this vote, the yeas are our annual Ohio Women’s Conference. We are starting to see glimmers of
71, the nays are 23. Then-Senator KAMALA HARRIS, now progress. Wages are starting to go up.
The motion is agreed to. the Vice President, was supposed to Wages have been rising all year. They
The Senator from Ohio. speak. We were going to present Miss are surging for workers who have been
REMEMBERING ELSIE STEWARD YOUNG Elsie with the award. She was already paid too little for decades, working
Mr. BROWN. Mr. President, last past 100 at that point. We both had to tough jobs in restaurants and hotels
week, Ohio and our Nation lost a cham- stay in Washington at the last minute and other service jobs.
pion for civil rights, Miss Elsie Stew- because of Supreme Court votes. Last week, the Washington Post de-
ard Young of Highland County, a con- So many Ohioans at that conference clared ‘‘Welcome to the year of wage
servative, rural county in Southwest told me later that, frankly, I am not hikes.’’ They reported, in the past 3
Ohio. sure that the Vice President—the fu- months, rank-and-file employees have
Miss Elsie, as everyone called her, ture Vice President and I were missed seen some of the fastest wage growth
had just celebrated her 105th birthday. that much, not with Miss Elsie there. in 40 years. Think about that, the fast-
She is a legend in Southwest Ohio. Her She not only filled the void, she pro- est wage growth since Ronald Reagan
courage, her leadership made a dif- vided so much energy with her forceful, said it was morning in America.
ference for children not only in her inspiring words; and during that con- It is what should happen—what hap-
community but all over the country. ference she was 102. pens when you invest in people who
In 1954, after the Supreme Court Throughout the conference, people make this country work, not the CEOs,
issued its landmark Brown v. Board of lined up to get pictures with her. When not multinational corporations, not
Education decision and ordered an end the video played depicting the bravery money that never really trickles down.
to segregation in American schools, and determination of the marchers and We invested in America’s greatest
the two all-White primary schools in when Miss Elsie spoke accepting the asset, our workers. Putting money di-
Hillsboro—again, a small town, High- award, of course, there was hardly a rectly in people’s pockets, putting kids
land County, southwest of Columbus— dry eye in the audience. back in school, putting workers back
refused to integrate. The district con- She talked about how she and other in jobs, that is starting to unleash the
tinued to send Black students to a sin- mothers only did what any mother true potential of our economy.
gle all-Black school which was woe- would do for her children. We don’t stop here. On Friday, Presi-
fully underfunded. So many Ohioans will miss Miss Elsie dent Biden issued a sweeping Executive
I remember the stories my mother Steward Young. Our thoughts are with order to increase competition in the
would tell me of growing up in Mans- her three surviving daughters, her two economy. It is one more way we start
field, GA. She said she knew and she surviving sons, and, get this, her 36 to tilt the job market toward workers.
told me—when busing became such a grandchildren. Capitalism without competition is just
controversy in the 1960s and 1970s, she We know her legacy lives on through exploitation.
told me that she knew all about bus- her success, through her victories, It is just common sense, when you
ing. through her fight for justice, through
In the South, when she grew up in have a tiny number of corporations, a
her families, through the future gen- shrinking number of corporations that
the twenties and thirties, they would
erations of young people whom she in- get bigger and bigger, that control en-
bus Black students past the newer, bet-
spired to stand against justice. tire industries and huge portions of the
ter kept White schools to the seg-
I ask my colleagues to join me in economy, it drives up prices, and it
regated Black schools that were falling
honoring Miss Elsie Steward Young, drives down wages.
apart. No criticism of ‘‘forced busing’’
Ohioan mother, determined champion Research shows that industry con-
in those days.
That was essentially what was going for civil rights. solidation decreases worker pay by as
on in Hillsboro, OH, and Elsie Steward ECONOMIC GROWTH much as 17 percent. Companies force
Young wouldn’t stand for it. Mr. President, for the first time in workers to sign noncompete agree-
She and a group of mothers—this is decades, workers are beginning to gain ments as a condition of getting a job,
in the 1950s—took matters into their some power in our economy. even in jobs like fast food and con-
own hands. They became the Marching Because of President Biden’s leader- struction. They tuck them into the
Mothers of Hillsboro. Every single day ship, because of the American Rescue fine print of job contracts, making it
for two long years, they marched for Plan, America’s economy is roaring harder for workers to switch to better
miles to the town’s all-White primary back. We have had record job creation. paying options.
We gained more than 3 million jobs Sometimes they are not even en-

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school; every day they were sent home.
They carried on. Eventually, the since this President took office, more forceable, but employers put them in
community and the State and the jobs created in the first 5 months of there anyway because it scares workers
country noticed. They joined with the any Presidency in modern history. away from taking another job.
NAACP to file a lawsuit against the It is not only the jobs numbers— We are putting a stop to this. No
Hillsboro board of education. It made it those are important—but those, of company should be allowed to tell you
all the way to the Supreme Court, and course, don’t tell the full story. It is you can’t take a job offering higher
they won. the quality of those jobs. pay. President Biden is cracking down

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S4820 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE July 12, 2021
on corporate mergers. Towns all over expanding production and hiring 40 What economic security? People are
Ohio have seen what happens when more union workers. That is what we hungry, homes are crumbling, and
companies merge and create just one can achieve when we invest in the peo- there is no economy. There is no real
employer in a community. It often ple and places that make this country economy in Cuba.
means plant or store closures. It means work. Give up your freedom and you will
workers have no competitors in town When you love this country, you have an education—free education for
to go to for higher wages. fight for the people who make it work. everybody.
Rural towns in Ohio and across the That is what President Biden is doing. That education—No. 1, you are a doc-
country watch companies come in, It is what all of us must continue to do tor, but you can drive a taxicab in
knowing they are the only game in to respect the dignity of work, so all Cuba and make more money. Or, No. 2,
town, and they offer workers a take-it- work pays off and workers finally have you get sent, forced to go, overseas and
or-leave-it offer at rock-bottom wages real power in this economy. work basically on slave wages, no
that don’t even pay the bills, but it is I yield the floor. pay—barely any pay at all. It is basi-
the only place to go. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Sen- cally human trafficking, as our own
Sometimes that is the whole point of ator from Florida. Department of State found when it
the merger, to cut what corporations CUBA looked at the Cuban doctors’ program
call labor costs, what the rest of us call Mr. RUBIO. Mr. President, the world and how it has been abused.
jobs, paychecks, or livelihoods. and the country yesterday watched So what has happened in Cuba is that
Now the President is making it clear these images out of Cuba. It is really socialism has failed. It has to repress
that when we review mergers, we need unprecedented. In 62 years of com- people who complain about it. You
to look at and take into account munist tyranny on the island of Cuba, don’t get your freedom back.
whether they will lead to lower wages we have never seen and there has never And like socialists always do, they
for workers. been what now is up to 40 cities in have to find someone to blame. And
All actions come down to the same which people took to the streets—or- whom do they blame? No. 1, they blame
goal, increasing workers’ power by cut- ganically, unorganized, grassroots—to anybody in the country who doesn’t
ting through redtape that keeps work- ask for the end of that tyranny. And I agree with them. You are immediately
ers’ wages down. think it is important for a lot of people a counterrevolutionary. You are imme-
We build on this progress, these im- that are new to the issue to sort of un- diately a pawn of the imperialists. And,
portant steps, by passing the Protect derstand what that means and what it then, of course, they always blame the
the Right to Organize Act. To have a is all about. United States.
strong, growing middle class, we have I think the first lesson we need to The problem in Cuba for the regime
to have strong unions. The Protecting take away from it is that Marxism, so- is that the people aren’t falling for
the Right to Organize Act would start cialism doesn’t work. The way social- those lies anymore. They are not. The
to level the playing field and finally ism, the way Marxism has always embargo, that is the first thing they
give workers a fighting chance against worked—the way it has always empow- blame: It is the embargo. The embargo
corporate union-busting tactics. ered itself—is it goes to a people and it is causing all of this.
We all saw what happened with Ama- immediately divides them. It says: Why aren’t fishermen and farmers in
zon this year. One of most powerful There is the suppressor class, and then Cuba allowed to fish or grow things and
corporations in the world, and they there is this victim class. And these sell it to people? It is not the embargo
would not be raking in profits without evil oppressors—capitalists, in the case that keeps them from doing that. It is
the hard work and dedication of its of socialism or traditional Marxism— the regime.
hundreds of thousands of American they oppress the victims. And what Why can’t Cubans own a small busi-
workers. Yet it unleashed all of its bil- you have to do is you have to give us ness? Why can’t a Cuban do in Cuba
lions and billions and billions of dol- the power in government to take care what they can do in Miami, what they
lars’ worth of power to fight its own of these oppressors and to go after can do in Washington, and what they
these oppressors, and if you give us do in countries all over the world, and
workers.
When workers try to organize in 21st that power, we will deliver you secu- they can’t do it in Cuba? They can’t
century America, it is never a fair rity and we will protect you from the open a small business. That is not the
fight. This bill would strengthen the oppressors. They ask for security in ex- embargo that keeps them from doing
change for freedom. That is always the it. In fact, U.S. law allows us to trade
punishment against companies that
price that socialism asks for—security. and to do commerce with small busi-
violate workers’ right to organize and
And what you wind up with is a coun-
that retaliate against union organizers. nesses that are independently owned by
try of people that hate each other, and
It would close loopholes that allow Cubans. Do you know why Cubans can’t
they are angry at each other. A signifi-
employers to misclassify their employ- own small businesses? It is not the em-
cant portion of the people in the coun-
ees as supervisors and independent con- bargo. It is not the United States. It is
try have to leave, have to flee, go to
tractors, often stripping them of their the regime that doesn’t allow it.
jail, because they are the oppressor
overtime they have earned and avoid- People have seen these lies. How can
class. Their lives are destroyed. Their
ing paying their fair share and giving they afford to build luxury, four-star,
family lives are destroyed.
workers the benefits they deserve. But the socialism can’t deliver the world-class hotels for tourists, but
A union card is a ticket to middle- security. And when it can’t deliver the they cannot afford to deal with the
class life. We just need corporations to security, you don’t get your freedom crumbling homes that Cubans are liv-
let workers organize to take control back. And, in fact, when you start to ing in, with roofs literally falling in
over their career and their families. complain about that, that is when the over their heads and with water leak-
In closing, last week, I was up in the repression comes. ing into operating rooms at hospitals?
far northwest corner of my State in Well, that is what happened in Cuba. Look at what they do with the
Bryan, OH, visiting the Spangler Candy Socialism and Marxism has done to money. Oh, it is because you don’t
Company. It is a family-owned business Cuba what it has done everywhere in allow more money to be sent. When an
more than a century old. They have the world that it has been tried. It has American or a Cuban American sends
had success for all those years by failed. It has failed. They gave up their money to their family members in
treating their workers and the Team- freedom. Or they were told: Give up Cuba—in the past, through Western
sters Union, which represents their Union—the regime takes 10 percent off

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your freedom in exchange for a world-
workers, as partners. They have the class healthcare system. the top, and then they take those dol-
same goal: to make a great product, to It is not a world-class healthcare sys- lars you sent and they force the Cubans
make the company successful. They tem. In fact, it is a healthcare system to convert it into worthless Cuban cur-
work together. that does not even have the ability to rency. They keep the dollars. And,
We in this body, with the American deal with COVID at its very basic level. then, guess what: If you want to buy
Rescue Plan, saved their union pen- They said: Give up your freedom for anything, you have to buy it from a
sions in that plan. Now the company is economic security. government store, and guess what the

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