WATCH: Dem Fires Major Shot At Bob Good Over Losing Primary After He Interrupts Him During Hearing

5 months ago

During a House Education Committee hearing Tuesday, Rep. Donald Norcross (D-NJ) made a comment about Rep. Bob Good (R-VA) losing in his district's primary election last month.

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Transcript

00:00Thank you.

00:01We'll now recognize Mr. Norcross from New Jersey for five minutes.

00:06Thank you.

00:07I want to start out by saying we live in the greatest country in the world.

00:12We live in a democracy which we have elections, whether they're for members of Congress or

00:18for their representatives as their union voices, but I do want to take a moment of personal

00:25privilege to thank the chairman.

00:29He and I agree on little, if anything, but I do want to thank him for his public service

00:36and wish him well in any future endeavors that are coming out.

00:40We need more public servants, but we appreciate what you've done and wish you well.

00:47Start out by saying we're in due process.

00:49I heard stories.

00:52What is going on in this country with anti-Semitism is horrific in any form.

00:57We heard in many of our hearings what is going on in college campuses, and I couldn't

01:02agree more, but we live in a country that's a democracy, and unfortunately, many of those

01:09views are something that I personally disagree with, as many of us, but in this country,

01:17and to quote our friend from the Institute, Mr. Tambom, we did not choose and we do not

01:26want many of our elected officials.

01:28Some might even be in this room, and we are forced to fund them, whether it's a union

01:35or our government, but the idea or suggestion that because of a few bad actors, which we

01:43make no excuses for, are being anti-Semitic and smearing the entire representatives of

01:50workers, I think, is no different calling unions anti-Semites.

01:55You could call Republicans racists.

01:57You could call Democrats socialists, but it doesn't make it true, but if we look back

02:03in our history, we certainly did have racists that served in this house, but the idea that

02:11somehow this is breaking out, I'm sorry, did you say something?

02:17You looking to yield time for me, Chairman?

02:20You finished with your time?

02:21No, you were talking.

02:22Then proceed.

02:23I thought you were wanting me to yield some time.

02:24I thought maybe you were talking about the Southern Democrats and the KKK.

02:27I claimed back my time.

02:28I thought that's what you were talking about.

02:29Thank you.

02:30You're done in more than one way.

02:32So the idea of what we're doing each and every day is how democracies work, so my question

02:38goes back to whether they have votes on authorizing strikes, ratifying contracts, union leadership,

02:44the votes that go on each and every day.

02:47This is not a top-down.

02:48This is a bottom-up.

02:49This is something that we believe in in our nation and certainly in the unions.

02:53Dr. LoFalzo, can you talk to us a little bit more detail of what you started to talk about,

02:59where those rights of a union member, when it comes to dues, when it comes to the votes

03:04on where that union comes together, but at the end of the day, they have a vote, whether

03:09they agree with it or they don't, just like we do in this country when we have votes.

03:15Could you expand on some of those issues, particularly right-to-work states versus non-right-to-work

03:21states?

03:22So first of all, no worker can be compelled to join a union in any state.

03:32In right-to-work states, they also cannot be compelled to pay their dues.

03:39I think that we agree on that.

03:43In non-right-to-work states or fair share states, the only thing that union-represented

03:51employees have to pay are their agency fees, which is, as Mr. Taubman pointed out, they

03:58are reduced fees because the Supreme Court has stated very clearly that unions cannot

04:05force anyone to pay for their political activities or non-representative activities.

04:12So there is a big difference in right-to-work states and not-right-to-work states.

04:18Also, with respect to a national right-to-work law, there already is a solution for that

04:26too, which is to lobby.

04:29States can do that.

04:30Every state can do that if they want, and it would have the same effect.

04:35West Virginia was one of the most democratic states until recently.

04:39It was not right-to-work, and now it is recently right-to-work.

04:42Sorry.

04:43No.

04:44We understand.

04:45So the idea that they do have a choice, they are represented by agency fees, we understand

04:57all that, but the idea of having a hearing, one of only maybe a dozen a year, making this

05:04your highest priority, I have yet to have, and I live in a very Jewish area, one person

05:10come up to me and talk to me about unions being anti-Semitic.

05:15But this goes to the case of what we are dealing here.

05:19Thank you for giving me those additional ten seconds, Mr. Chairman.

05:23I really appreciate it.

05:24You have a good day.

05:25We will now recognize Mr. Walden from Michigan again for five minutes.

05:27Thank you.

WATCH: Dem Fires Major Shot At Bob Good Over Losing Primary After He Interrupts Him During Hearing

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