Congressional Black Caucus

Floor Speech

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Mr. TONKO. Thank you, Representative Edwards, for bringing us together this evening on what I think is a very timely discussion.

You know, it seems as though 43-year-old history resonates profoundly today. The same battles for which Martin Luther King had fought, the eloquence with which he raised America's consciousness is needed today, not only in the halls of government but across America, to understand that there is an attack, I believe, on workers.

There is a diminution of the impact of our middle class, our working families in this country, when we look at the fact that the top 10 percent of Americans now own or earn around 50 percent of our national income.

We look at stats from 1950 that has the executive salaries somewhere in a 30-to-1 ratio compared to the American worker. By the year 2000, that had changed drastically to some 300-to-1 to 500-to-1. So it's obvious that the gap between those who are drawing large paychecks and the workers, the masses that make things work, that have the need to have purchasing power so as to enable our economy to function and function well, have been threatened. They have been at risk.

And I think the whole moral fabric that Martin Luther King embraced, the entire mission to raise America's people as one by providing for the dignity of the American workers, was a tremendously strong statement in defense of all people, not just people of color, people of every demographic, people of every racial persuasion that could provide for a stronger America. It was that vision that he had and he shared it so eloquently, and his climb to the mountaintop was bringing all of America's children and people along.

He knew that the empowerment of the individual meant the empowerment of the society. As we weave the strands of diversity into the fabric of America, our mosaic growing stronger and brighter and more vibrant enables us to be a Nation that really, truly is unique if we could just empower the American worker.

I see the raid now on this middle class in these Chambers, in the congressional Chambers, both the House and the Senate being so focused on a dismantling of the power of the working families, of the true middle class of our society. That is a wrong move. That is one that will devastate our economy and one that is not utilizing, embracing the intellectual capacity of this great Nation.

Cuts to our children through Head Start or in classroom experience is the worst cut of any because it's our future that we are playing with. We are not allowing for the dignity, again, of which Martin Luther King spoke, to be felt in the classroom; and that magic of learning is dulled, is dulled, by these painful cuts.

So we have got to respond, respond with compassion and with our eyes wide open knowing that that message of 43 years ago and that powerful statement made about the dignity of labor, the evening before he was brought down, still speaks to every one of us, or at least ought to, so that we can provide for the sorts of policy and the resource advocacy, the distribution of income across this country in a way that really empowers the individual and families.

That, I think, is the mission that is still there for each and every one of us. So many of us were inspired by the words of John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Robert F. Kennedy. It drew people to the public arena. They wanted to be involved; they saw government as a noble mission. And that tarnished atmosphere that's prevailing today has allowed for misrepresentation of facts or denial of data that really should guide our process here, as Martin often called for fairness, for equitable treatment, for justice.

Those are the factors that drive the dignity. So it is a challenge to us, but I think we are up for that challenge, and I remain optimistic. If we just provide the boost to our Nation's working families, to our middle class, then we are all empowered. I think that tide would lift all boats.

So, thank you, Representative Edwards, for bringing us together on a very important discussion.

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Mr. TONKO. You know, the dignity that was addressed, the respect factor of ``I am a man,'' that rhetoric that speaks to the working individual, that speaks to humanity, the man, the woman, the child, the dignity of the individual, the respect shown, was all that was embraced in that message, that struck all of America, touched all Americans.

I am of the age that I remember that tragic day. It came so clustered. In a short 5 years, we lost three great leaders to bullets. It is just really a tragic outcome that you can't help but find yourself questioning what if their march continued, how different would America be?

I find it so interesting that his last major appearance and effort was for workers, fighting for workers, for the dignity of work and the dignity of workers.

The assault on workers' rights that he was addressing we see today in the news. We see it in Wisconsin. We see it in Michigan. We see it in Ohio. And it is like the same battles are here to be fought and won.

So the spirit of Martin encourages, I think, builds our determination and our resilience to make a difference. The efforts that America needs to associate with the overall cause and concern for job creation and job retention is so vitally important. Many would choose to have us believe that it is a high rate of firings that is occurring out there, but it is really a low rate of hirings, which is a different sort of saga. We need to invest now in worker opportunities, in training, retraining, in education, and in job creation.

I am a firm believer, and I know many are, that unemployment is driving our deficit and that if we invest in jobs, if we invest in the worker, we will see a corresponding benefit on the flip side of a reduced deficit for this Nation.

I think the stats tell it all. The bottom 50 percent of income earners in the United States now collectively own less than 1 percent of the Nation's wealth. That is a startling fact. And we need to make certain that there is more justice that is produced out there. As I said earlier, I really do believe that the purchasing power that we can enhance for America's

working families, for our middle class, for the mainstream worker out there is an empowerment for all of us. Someone needs to purchase the products that those perched on the top may produce by their ownership. But the worker to build that product and the worker to buy that product is an important key, perhaps the most important ingredient in the equation.

When we look at the fact that some five people are lined up for every job opportunity in this country, and when we look at the fact that workers' rights are under assault today in many areas across this country, there is a great amount of unfinished business.

And on this anniversary commemoration of a great leader's death, it is important for us to recommit our energies and our spirit to speaking to the needs of America's workers. Nothing could honor Dr. Martin Luther King's legacy and the man more vibrantly than speaking to job creation, job retention, workers' rights and prevention of what we are seeing where there is an assault on those rights across this country.

Thank you, Representative Edwards, for bringing this solemn opportunity together on this floor where so many issues were addressed in favorable measure, that were driven by the courage and the boldness and the noble vision of Dr. Martin Luther King and other great leaders, like JFK and RFK, who traveled that same era in history.

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Mr. TONKO. Thank you, Representative Edwards.

I would have to say that I truly believe that, if Dr. King were in our presence today, he would remind us that a budget is a series of priorities. What we place high, what we place most precious in that budget, we would see as a document that speaks to a family. Just like a household will balance its needs, its concerns with its ability to pay and put together the balancing, so too does the family of America require that sort of tender balancing.

He would remind us, whether they are employed, critically unemployed or marginally underemployed, whatever the situation might be, that today America's middle class families are living paycheck to paycheck. That's becoming more and more the scenario. He would have suggested, look, we need to take that concern for mortgages, that concern for college tuition, that concern for just pay, that concern for utility bills, that concern for food costs and energy costs, and we need to invest in the American working families.

Contrast that with what the other scenario might look like: handouts to oil companies, corporate loopholes that are not shut, tax breaks for the most comfortable in society. That is the contrast he would challenge us to face head on and to understand it's about social and economic justice. It's about bringing more balance, more fairness into the equation.

As a clergyman, he embraced the faith and brought it into the community; he brought it into America; he challenged us to respond in compassionate measure. We

have it within our means to do this in a fair and just way, and that's why we are at a tipping point in this Nation's history where we need to look at revitalizing the middle class.

I represent many modest annual income households. They have told me their fear is about maintaining their homes; their fear is about educating their children; their fear is about tomorrow having the opportunity. I'm optimistic that we can do it because we have the skills here within the Congress to make it happen and to make it work in a progressive fashion. Do we have the will? That would be the challenge. That would be the challenge from Dr. King this very evening: Do we have the will to move forward in a progressive fashion?

So thank you, Representative Edwards, for bringing us together tonight in tribute to a giant of an individual, an icon in our midst.

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