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Protecting the Right to Organize Act of 2021

Floor Speech

By: Jim Banks
By: Jim Banks
Date: March 9, 2021
Location: Washington, DC
Issues: Labor Unions Immigration

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Mr. BANKS. Madam Speaker, if we adopt the motion to recommit, we will instruct the Committee on Education and Labor to consider an amendment to prohibit labor organizations from encouraging illegal immigrants to join their ranks.

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Mr. BANKS. Madam Speaker, thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic and onerous government restrictions, the last year has been among the toughest for working Americans in our Nation's history. Congress' foremost duty today is to help the millions of hurting American workers recover their lost jobs and wages.

Madam Speaker, this bill prevents us from fulfilling that duty and, instead, prioritizes the interests of illegal immigrants and union bosses.

Madam Speaker, I am the grandson and son of proud union members, and my brother works at the same factory in northeast Indiana and belongs to the same union that my dad and grandfather and uncles and cousins, and many others, have as well.

So let me tell you, it is a travesty that Democrats think that people who broke our Nation's laws deserve the same labor rights as they do. This bill, as written, would lessen American citizens' union voting power and hand it to people who aren't even legally employed. It goes against the very purpose of unions: providing a forum where American workers can have a voice.

Madam Speaker, this bill would disempower American workers by drowning out their voices to the benefit of illegal immigrants.

The amendment I propose is simple: Individuals who are not eligible to work in our country should not be contacted or courted by labor leadership. If my Democratic colleagues insist on moving forward with this bill without my amendment, they wouldn't be protecting Americans' right to organize. They would be prohibiting American workers from organizing as a distinct group.

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Mr. BANKS. Madam Speaker, the Democratic Party claims to have the best interest of American workers at heart so, please, prove it.

Madam Speaker, I urge all of my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on the motion to recommit.

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