Hoyer Remarks at AFGE's Legislative Conference Rally

WASHINGTON, DC –Congressman Steny H. Hoyer (MD-5) spoke in support of federal employees today at the American Federation of Government Employees legislative conference rally. Below are excerpts of his remarks.

"Too many workers are being left out in the cold, and we need to make sure we come in from the cold. And how do workers always come in from the cold? Not because someone says, ‘Come on in,' but because workers get organized, joined up, paid up, spoke up, and marched, and said ‘We are here, and we are doing the work that the country needs done.'  So I want to all congratulate all of you."

"The middle class in America is shrinking… what made America a great country was not that we had rich people and not that we were trying to get poor people out of being poor. It was that we had this very broad, expansive middle class that made America the country that it is. And you're standing up for every one of them."

"[Federal employees] have paid almost $150 billion in pay and benefits over the last six years, particularly over the last four years. And that ought to energize us, because it's not right. The federal government will not be able to recruit and retain the kind of people that Americans need if we don't pay people and respect people and include people in the decision-making process in our government."