Drug Quality and Security Act - Motion to Proceed

Floor Speech

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Mr. MERKLEY. Mr. President, I so much appreciate the comments of my colleague from Delaware, first speaking to the importance of rebuilding our manufacturing sector, of creating living-wage jobs and how important that is to building the middle class and providing the foundation for families to thrive, and then speaking to the core issue we are debating today, that of ending significant discrimination against millions of American citizens. His words were well spoken, I say to the Senator from Delaware, and I thank him for his advocacy that will make this Nation work better for so many of our fellow citizens.

This issue of freedom from discrimination is a core issue of freedom. It is a core issue of liberty. It goes right to the heart of the founding of this country. Our Founders were often chafing under the heavy hand from the land they came from across the ocean, and they wanted to be able to forge their own world where they would be able to participate fully in society. So liberty and freedom became right at the heart of our founding documents.

Our Declaration of Independence says in its second paragraph:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights; that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.

That concept of liberty was echoed when we went to our U.S. Constitution. It started out saying, as Americans are well aware:

We, the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, ensure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

We, the people, sought in that year to establish a more perfect union, and we continue in our pursuit of a more perfect union--one with more complete blessings of liberty.

What, indeed, is liberty? That opportunity to participate fully in our society. This was well captured by President Lyndon Baines Johnson. He was speaking in 1965 to Howard University students at their commencement, and President Johnson said:

Freedom is the right to share fully and equally in American society; to vote, to hold a job, to enter a public place, to go to school.

President Johnson continued:

It is the right to be treated in every part of our national life as a person equal in dignity and promise to all others.

I think President Johnson captured well what freedom and liberty are all about, as have many of our major public citizens over time as they sought to examine this core premise of liberty and freedom and what it meant in this Nation, what it meant to create a more perfect union in this regard.

Eleanor Roosevelt spent a lot of time talking about human rights. She said:

Where, after all, do universal human rights begin? In small places, close to home, so close and so small that they cannot be seen on any map of the world. Yet they are the world of the individual person, the neighborhood he lives in, the school or college he attends, the factory, farm or office where he works. Such are the places where every man, woman, and child seeks equal justice, equal opportunity, equal dignity without discrimination. Unless these rights have meaning there, they have little meaning anywhere.

Indeed, today we are very much talking about the factory, farm, and office Eleanor Roosevelt spoke about, where, if rights do not have meaning there, they have little meaning anywhere.

It has been long recognized that the opportunity to thrive for the individual is so fundamental to this notion of liberty and freedom, and it is also a powerful force for the good of our Nation as a whole. This is well captured by Theodore Roosevelt. He said:

Practical equality of opportunity for all citizens, when we achieve it, has two great results. First, every man will have a fair chance to make of himself all that in him lies, to reach the highest point to which his capacities, unassisted by special privilege of his own, unhampered by the special privilege of others, can carry him; to get for himself and his family substantially what he has earned.

Theodore Roosevelt continued:

Second, equality of opportunity means that the commonwealth will get from every citizen the highest service of which he is capable. No man who carries the burden of the special privileges of another can give to the commonwealth that service to which it is fairly entitled.

Theodore Roosevelt was speaking in the masculine, but he was talking about all citizens--men and women--equality of opportunity for the individual and for the benefit of society.

Senator Ted Kennedy summarized this concept much more succinctly. He did so on August 5, 2009, when the bill that is before this body was introduced in that year, the 2009 version. He said:

The promise of America will never be fulfilled as long as justice is denied to even one among us.

So, again, the success of the individual in gaining full access to liberty and freedom, full opportunity to participate in society, builds a stronger community, a stronger State, and a stronger Nation.

The bill we have before us today is a simple concept: That an individual can pursue that place on the farm or in the factory or in the office without discrimination; that the LGBT citizen has full opportunity to fulfill their potential in the workplace.

Religious groups from across America have weighed in to say how important and valuable that is. Here is a sign-on letter--a letter that is signed by approximately 60 religious groups across America. It is addressed to each of us in this Chamber.

Dear Senator: On behalf of our organizations, representing a diverse group of faith traditions and religious beliefs, we urge you to support the Employment Non-Discrimination Act. As a nation, we cannot tolerate arbitrary discrimination against millions of Americans just because of who they are. Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people should be able to earn a living, provide for their families, and contribute to our society without fear that who they are or who they love could cost them a job. ENDA is a measured, commonsense solution that will ensure workers are judged on their merits, not on their personal characteristics like sexual orientation or gender identity. We call on you to pass this important legislation without delay.

This letter from these roughly 60 religious organizations continues:

Many of our religious texts speak to the important and sacred nature of work ..... and demand in the strongest possible terms the protection of all workers as a matter of justice. Our faith leaders and congregations grapple with the difficulties of lost jobs every day, particularly in these difficult economic times. It is indefensible that, while sharing every American's concerns about the health of our economy, LGBT workers must also fear for their job security for reasons completely unrelated to their job performance.

Our faith traditions, the letter continues, hold different and sometimes evolving beliefs about the nature of human sexuality and marriage as well as gender identity and gender expression, but we can all agree on the fundamental premise that every human being is entitled to be treated with dignity and respect in the workplace. In addition, any claims that ENDA harms religious liberty are misplaced. ENDA broadly exempts from its scope houses of worship as well as religiously affiliated organizations. This exemption--which covers the same religious organizations already exempted from the religious discrimination provisions of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964--should ensure that religious freedom concerns don't hinder the passage of this critical legislation.

Then this letter concludes:

We urge Congress to swiftly pass the Employment Non-Discrimination Act so that lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender Americans have an equal opportunity to earn a living and provide for themselves and their families.

I ask unanimous consent to have printed in the Record the sign-on list associated with this letter.

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Mr. MERKLEY. Thank you, Mr. President. This is a list that Americans will well be familiar with, including Methodist groups, Lutheran groups, Jewish groups, and so on and so forth, from the spectrum of Protestant religions, Christian religions, and other religions. It is powerful and helpful that they have written to share their perspectives, and I thank them for doing so.

Business coalitions have also weighed in. I have here a letter from the Business Coalition for Workplace Fairness. Their letter is much shorter. It is signed by approximately 120 companies. I will read it for my colleagues now. It says:

The majority of United States businesses have already started addressing workplace fairness for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender employees. But we need a federal standard that treats all employees the same way.

The Business Coalition for Workplace Fairness is a group of leading U.S. employers that support the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, a federal bill that would provide the same basic protections that are already afforded to workers across the country.

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender employees are not protected under federal law from being fired, refused work or otherwise discriminated against. ENDA would do just that.

These are companies that include American Eagle Outfitters to Morgan Stanley, Charles Schwab to Nike, General Mills to Xerox, and Hilton Worldwide to Apple, and so on and so forth.

Speaking of Apple, it might be interesting to hear the perspectives of the CEO of Apple, Tim Cook.

He wrote an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal, and here is what he had to say. This was published, by the way, on November 3, just a few days ago. He said:

Long before I started work as the CEO of Apple, I became aware of a fundamental truth: People are much more willing to give of themselves when they feel that their selves are being fully recognized and embraced.

At Apple, we try to make sure people understand that they don't have to check their identity at the door. We're committed to creating a safe and welcoming workplace for all employees, regardless of their race, gender, nationality or sexual orientation.

As we see it, embracing people's individuality is a matter of basic human dignity and civil rights.

Tim Cook continues:

It also turns out to be great for the creativity that drives our business. We've found that when people feel valued for who they are, they have the comfort and confidence to do the best work of their lives.

Apple's antidiscrimination policy goes beyond the legal protections U.S. workers currently enjoy under federal law, most notably because we prohibit discrimination against Apple's gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender employees.

A bill now before the U.S. Senate--

Of course, this bill we are currently debating--

would update those employment laws, at long last, to protect workers against discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

We urge Senators to support the Employment Nondiscrimination Act, and we challenge the House of Representatives to bring it to the floor for a vote.

Protections that promote equality and diversity should not be conditional on someone's sexual orientation. For too long, too many people have had to hide that part of their identity in the workplace.

Those who have suffered discrimination have paid the greatest price for this lack of legal protection. But ultimately we all pay a price.

If our coworkers cannot be themselves in the workplace, they certainly cannot be their best selves. When that happens, we undermine people's potential and deny ourselves and our society the full benefits of those individuals' talents.

So long as the law remains silent on the workplace rights of gay and lesbian Americans, we as a nation are effectively consenting to discrimination against them.

Congress should seize the opportunity to strike a blow against such intolerance by approving the Employment Nondiscrimination Act.

Again, that is a letter from Tim Cook, the CEO of Apple, published in the Wall Street Journal.

So we see this long arch in pursuit of a vision of liberty and freedom, from our early settlers of North America, to the Declaration of Independence, to the opening words of our U.S. Constitution, to our leaders through a scope of time who recognized the power of liberty in fulfilling the potential of the individual and the potential of the Nation, to our current religious leaders and our current business leaders. It is time we take another bold stride in this long journey toward freedom and liberty for all Americans. In that regard, I urge all of my colleagues to support this legislation before us. It will make a difference in millions of lives, and it will make a difference in the strength and character of our Nation.

Thank you.

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Mr. MERKLEY. I want to take the opportunity to say a word or two while our colleagues from Alaska and Maine are here. These two colleagues, representing the far northwest and far northeast of the United States, have brought so much wisdom and so much determination to this topic of treating all citizens with respect, providing all citizens with a full measure of liberty to be deeply engaged in every aspect of American life. That certainly includes the workplace, and that topic, discrimination in the workplace, is before us today.

Senator Collins was the chief Republican sponsor for the first 2 years I was in the Senate. She passed on the baton to Senator Kirk but did not stop championing this bill, and late last night was working and has been holding meetings for the many days and weeks that have led up to this moment--and over the years that have led us to this moment. I say thank you very much to the senior Senator from Maine for her engagement and advocacy of fairness for all Americans.

My colleague from Alaska, it was a pleasure to exchange voice mails as we prepared for the Monday night, knowing that she would not be able to be here for that vote but was sending good wishes. We were uncertain whether we would have 60 votes that night or whether we would have the floor open until midnight or whether we would be voting the next day in order to have her support be the support that put us over the top. But long before that vote occurred she too was talking to her colleagues, noting that freedom for American citizens means freedom to pursue your mission in life, your meaning in life through your work. Discrimination in the workplace diminishes the individual and diminishes the full potential of our Nation as well.

We are now all hoping that we will be able to have final votes on amendments and votes to close debate and to have a final vote sometime tomorrow. That work is not yet done. The path before us may still have unexpected challenges to be overcome. But as we overcome them and approach that final vote, it will be in large measure because of the terrific work of these two colleagues.

I yield.

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