‘Stop talking about Dr. Seuss and start working with us’: Democratic congressman lashes out at GOP colleagues over pro-union bill
Democratic presidential candidate and Ohio congressman Tim Ryan speaks at the Iowa Democratic Party’s Hall of Fame Dinner on June 9, 2019 in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Nearly all of the 23 Democratic candidates running for president were campaigning in Iowa this weekend. President Donald Trump has two events scheduled in the state on Tuesday.
March 10, 2021
(CNN) — Democratic Rep. Tim Ryan lashed out at his Republican counterparts on Tuesday as the House debated a pro-union bill, urging the party to end its preoccupation with the recent shelving of six controversial Dr. Seuss books so it can “start working with us on behalf of the American workers.”
In a heated brief speech on the House floor, Ryan shouted as he expressed his frustration over the lack of GOP support for the bill, gesticulating as he chided his colleagues for not helping “the damn workers in the United States of America.”
“We talk about pensions, you complain. We talk about the minimum wage increase, you complain. We talk about giving them the right to organize, you complain,” the congressman said, pointing his finger in the air repeatedly as his face mask began sliding below his nose.
“But if we’re passing a tax cut here, you’d be all getting in line to vote yes for it. Now stop talking about Dr. Seuss and start working with us on behalf of the American workers,” Ryan yelled, before yielding back his time.
His passion didn’t go unnoticed.
Rep. Virginia Foxx, a Republican from North Carolina and the next person to make remarks on the floor, said plainly after being recognized to speak: “Mr. Speaker, I’m using my inside voice.”
The “Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act” includes a slew of provisions that proponents say will make it easier for workers to form unions, conduct strikes, and bargain for better wages and working conditions. It passed the House later Tuesday with widespread support from Democrats, while only five Republicans voted in favor of it.
Conservatives have recently seized on a decision earlier this month by the business that preserves Dr. Seuss’ legacy to stop publishing six books they say “portray people in ways that are hurtful and wrong,” with Fox News personalities and some Republican lawmakers claiming it’s the latest example of the left’s “cancel culture,” even though the decision was made by the publisher.
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