Patrick On The Job, Again

The following letter to the editor appeared in the Courier Times yesterday...

Labor Day is a great time to spend with your family, have a barbecue and watch some football. But we should also remember that Labor Day is a time to honor and respect hardworking Americans.

Even with Labor Day well behind us, I still wanted to look back over the recent months at some of the refreshing changes we have seen on behalf of working families. Congressman Patrick Murphy and the new Democratic Congress are clearly and consistently on the side of America's hardest workers. While our previous Republican Congress seemed happy to send American jobs overseas, with such legislation as the Central American Free Trade Agreement, Rep. Murphy demonstrated his commitment to hard working families by helping pass legislation to raise the minimum wage in his very first week in Congress.

Thanks to the efforts of Murphy and others, American workers making minimum wage got a raise on July 24 that will continue until their salary goes from $5.15 an hour to $7.25 an hour in 2009. And to make sure that employers in Bucks County can afford this pay raise, he has voted for more than $1 billion in tax cuts for small businesses. I was also happy to see him throw his support behind the Employee Free Choice Act, landmark legislation that will prevent unscrupulous employers from intimidating workers who want to organize.

Murphy deserves to be commended for his consistent efforts to make sure that good-paying jobs go to Americans. He co-sponsored the Decent Working Conditions and Fair Competition Act, which will prevent Americans from losing their jobs because their employers can't compete with cheaply made sweatshop goods. He's also voted for increased border security and to crack down on cities with illegal alien sanctuary policies, to make sure that the jobs he's keeping in America, go to American citizens, not illegal immigrants.

Most importantly, he's always been willing to come down to the union hall and chat with our members to make sure he truly understands all the struggles that the hard working men and women here in Lower Bucks face. For all these reasons, I am glad to say that this Labor Day I had a representative in Congress that working families can be proud of.

Michael Russo
Bristol Township

To help Patrick, click here.

And by the way, as long as I’m mentioning Bucks County Democrats, don’t forget to support Matt Maloney and Deb Wachspress for Lower Makefield Township Supervisors; to learn more, click here.