Quotes from Jan Schakowsky

Your health benefits are not a gift - you work hard for them every day.

Immigration reform is for those thousands of people in my district and the millions of people across the country who want nothing more than to work hard, provide for their families, and reach for the American Dream.

Hatred, bigotry, and discrimination have no place in our country. We must work hard to make sure that America remains an inclusive and respectful country.

The JCPOA has made the world safer. The deal ensures that Israel does not have to live with the threat of a nuclear Iran in its backyard.

Every year, Planned Parenthood serves three million Americans - men and women - and one in five women will receive care at a Planned Parenthood clinic in her lifetime.

The 'People's Budget' rewards hard work and invests in our country. It ensures that everyone has an opportunity to get a good education, find a good job, live in a safe and secure home, put food on the table, have affordable health care, save for retirement, and maybe have a little left over.

The rise of franchising, contracting, and other similar employment practices has made it harder to enforce worker protections like minimum wages, overtime pay, and the right to unionize.

I will continue to do all that I can to ensure and enhance worker protections, including the right to bargain collectively.

American workers are the best in the world. They teach our children, care for our sick and elderly, build our communities, and much more.

In Illinois, we've seen job losses from agreements like CAFTA and NAFTA. Those agreements didn't help American workers - and they haven't brought improvements to the lives of workers in other countries, either.

Food service workers, home care workers, farm workers, and other low-wage workers log long hours. They come home tired after providing services and producing goods that make our country stronger. They deserve fair treatment from their employers, and they deserve a voice in collective bargaining.

We can afford to pay workers fairly, and it is the right thing to do. We also need equal pay for equal work.

Women are the overwhelming majority of the workers providing long-term support to seniors and people with disabilities. As a result, women are the ones most affected by legislative decisions on long-term care.

We must ensure American workers get the long-overdue raise they deserve.

We must organize. We must protest. We must cry out in a loud voice that America needs a raise. We must keep working until workers in this country don't have to struggle to make ends meet.

American workers deserve a raise. I fully support the push for $15 an hour and a union. We also must raise wages for low and middle income families.

Higher wages for American workers are not just good for American families, they are good for our economy. I will keep fighting for a raise for hard working Americans so our families can afford housing, help their children get a quality education, and secure a good retirement.

From its onset, the labor movement has been at the forefront of the fight to improve working conditions and workplace safety. At the local level, knowing their union has their back gives workers the confidence and support they need to stand up and report harassment, poor working conditions, or workplace safety violations.

Workers should not be prevented from bargaining with the companies that help set their wages, benefits, schedules, and workplace conditions.

Rather than proposing a forward-looking energy initiative, House Republicans continue to push Big Oil's tired old ideas, ideas that will do absolutely nothing to lower gas prices for the American consumer.

As a member of the Democratic Women's Working Group and Co-Chair of the Congressional Seniors Task Force, I will keep fighting for women's rights until they are completely secured. My daughters and granddaughters and millions of women and girls nationwide deserve our tireless efforts until we become a country where there is truly equality for all.

As a first generation American myself, I know that comprehensive immigration reform is good for our country. I know it will reduce our deficit, grow our economy, reaffirm our values, advance our ideals, and honor our history as a nation of immigrants.

When my office asked the regional HHS office to participate in an enrollment event - something they routinely have done for previous ACA and Medicare Part D enrollment - they said no. They were prohibited from doing so - under orders from the Trump Administration.

We were far from rich, but I never remember my parents worrying about money.