Political Quotes

“I rise in support of H.R. 1 and in opposition to the amendment offered by my colleague from California. I am a strong supporter of the bill before us, H.R. 1, and was pleased to support it in the committee earlier this month. Contrary to what my colleagues may hear today, the bill does not affect the 40-hour workweek or existing rights of overtime pay. It also has built-in protections and safeguards to ensure that employees are not coerced into choosing comptime. The base bill allows employees to decide how they want to be paid for their overtime work, either in dollars or comptime. I once had a job where this policy was in effect, both as an employee as well as a boss, and I know that it works. When I no longer serve in this Congress, I would strongly prefer a job where I could put in a 40-hour week over 4 days and have a Monday or Friday off to spend time with my family, and I would think that that would be a worthwhile and attractive alternative to many of us in this Chamber today. Today I have heard a lot about being forced to choose one or the other. That does not happen. What we want to do is give workers the opportunity to choose for themselves what they want.”