What does it say when Lesotho and Papua New Guinea are implementing paid sick days to give their businesses and their entire nation a competitive edge, yet America still does not get it?

Working families need paid leave to help them stay afloat financially when they have a new child, when a wage earner falls critically ill, or when a family member has a serious health condition and needs care.

If there was ever a time that working families need an extra measure of economic security, this is it.

We are literally working ourselves to death.

we lead the world in employees who can never take a day off.

It boggles my mind that 30 years later that any employer would rather have employees come to work sick than provide them the time off they need to recover.

We know that infectious diseases like H1N1 can spread rapidly throughout the country when proper precautions are not taken.

I believe they should also enjoy a week or more of paid vacation each year.

When working parents must go to work sick, they risk infecting their entire workplace.

What does it say when Lesotho, Papua, New Guinea are implementing paid sick days to give their businesses and their entire nation a competitive edge? America still doesn't get it.

there is ample evidence that we are headed toward a workforce shortage.

It is time to take the next step in making this nation more family-friendly, and the sooner we act, the better off we will be.

I believe that workers in America ought to have paid sick days. It is a basic matter of right and wrong.

Thank you for having this hearing on an important piece of legislation, the Healthy Families Act, which would guarantee most workers seven days of paid sick leave per year.

This is about simply setting the floor on what we all can agree is good corporate citizenship, about staying competitive as a nation.

Almost half of our nation's working mothers report that they must miss work when a child is sick--but 49 percent of those mothers do not get paid when they miss work to care for a sick child.

For families in the lowest quartile of earners, 79 percent lack paid sick time.

I thank the Subcommittee for holding a hearing on the Healthy Families Act introduced in the House by Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro

Finally, the study finds that parents who had paid time off are more than five times more likely to care for their sick children.

Over 27 million workers in America never get a single day off.

It is about keeping businesses and workers strong, helping to maintain their edge in a tightening global economy.

Opponents of a paid sick days measure will claim it's too expensive for businesses. This view is penny-wise but pound-foolish.

69 percent of all Americans support our paid vacation bill.

I am a strong supporter of a national policy on paid leave and commend Representative Maloney on HR 626, the Federal Employees Parental Leave Act.

To that end, at the height of the H1N1 Flu outbreak, my office distributed 55,000 sick days fliers to the San Francisco Unified School District to be sent home with children.