Richard Gephardt: “I rise to oppose this bill today. The title of the bill or the phrase that is used to describe the bill makes it sound…”

“I rise to oppose this bill today. The title of the bill or the phrase that is used to describe the bill makes it sound like a very appealing idea, the idea that workers should have the ability to have flex time to be able to change hours, to be able to have more time with their families. But when we examine the bill closely, we realize what is really happening here is a shift of power from workers to some employers; and I would never, ever say all employers, because there are many employers today, who as a matter of policy in their own business, allow flex time and work with employees to work out a way that they can spend more time with their families, but what is happening in this bill is a shift in power to those employers who want to use this as a way to get pay levels down through not paying overtime pay. The biggest shift that has happened in our society in probably 100 years is not the television, it is not even the airplane or the computer, it is the lack of time that adults have to raise their children. So this bill could have been a bill that would be very positive in moving us in the right direction. It does not do that. I am sorry it does not do that. I wish it did do that. If it did that, I would be for it. But it moves us in a direction that we ought not to be going.”