Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I rise today in support of H.R. 2465, the Federal Workers' Compensation Modernization and Improvement Act. The legislation was approved unanimously by the House Education and Workforce Committee, a testament to its commonsense bipartisan policies. I urge my colleagues to support it. For more than 90 years, our workers' compensation program has provided assistance to Federal employees who become injured or ill through a work-related activity. The program reflects our commitment to the men and women who serve our country in the Federal Government. Established by the Federal Employees' Compensation Act, the program is administered by the Department of Labor; and, in recent years, it has grown significantly in size and in cost. An estimated 3 million employees are covered by the program. During fiscal year 2010, beneficiaries receive nearly $3 billion in workers' compensation. Unfortunately, this Federal program has not been significantly reformed or updated in almost 40 years; and as is too often the case with government programs left unchecked for decades, waste and inefficiencies have crept into the system, leading to poor use of taxpayer resources and diminished support for the individuals the program is intended to serve. Through the oversight efforts of the Education and Workforce Committee, we've learned about a number of challenges confronting the program.…”