Video: Gingrich and the GOP War on the Poor

December 05, 2011

Over the past several weeks, Republican presidential frontrunner Newt Gingrich has made a series of outrageous statements on children, labor laws and poverty.  After calling child labor laws “stupid,” Gingrich proposed firing unionized school janitors and replacing them with poor students.

AFSCME Sec.-Treas. Lee Saunders joined Rep. Donna Edwards (D-MD) and host Rev. Al Sharpton on MSNBC’s PoliticsNation to discuss Gingrich’s comments.

“For [Gingrich] to suggest that children can take the place of workers, of janitors, in schools is just completely off the charts,” said Saunders. “What he's suggesting is that we're going to lay off the mothers and fathers and employ the children, and we are a better country than that.”

Watch the video here: