It’s safe to say Republican Rep. Paul Ryan (WI-1) is no friend of organized labor, but Suzy Khimm of Mother Jones notes one glaring exception to Rep. Ryan’s opposition to labor unions:
[A] closer look at Ryan’s voting record reveals a single eyebrow-raising exception when it comes to labor unions: Ryan has consistently broken with his party to defend a law protecting the wages of unionized construction workers. His stance on the issue has earned him the support of a handful of unions back home, setting them apart from the majority of Wisconsin’s labor community, which who has cast Ryan as public enemy No. 1. What explains this break in GOP orthodoxy? Ryan’s family owns a construction firm that relies heavily on union labor—and the company could suffer if the law were repealed.
The law Rep. Paul Ryan has broken with the Republican Party to defend is the Davis-Bacon Act, which prevents federally funded construction projects from undercutting the prevailing union wages in any local area. While Republicans have been trying to repeal Davis-Bacon for years, claiming it benefits unions at the expense of taxpayers, Rep. Ryan has been a staunch supporter of Davis-Bacon, voting as recently as February to oppose a bill that would have repealed Davis-Bacon.
I was naive and I honestly didn’t know who to vote for when I first became eligible to vote. I started to do some online “issues” answer web pages to help me pick, and I was astounded just how much the Republican party was the antithesis of my values much of the time.
I’ll forever be ashamed that the first time I was allowed to vote I voted for this man without looking him up, for the sole reason that he won elections so overwhelmingly. I’ve since moved so I no longer have to see his name on the ballot, but looking at his votes alone is enough for me to hate that I ever cast a vote for him in the past. I can sympathize with fiscal conservatives, but his voting record goes far beyond that.
Incredible! Ryan proves his hypocrisy.
naturally. he does only care about making money, and who cares about the rest of the people when there’s money to be made