Political Quotes

“this amendment comes after about 24 hours of discussion here as a surprise because we are just looking at it for the first time. But there are two things that are very disturbing about it. One is it completely distorts workers' compensation for Federal employees, which has substantially increased costs to taxpayers, of course. It also sets a terrible precedent in terms of how workers' comp works. Workers' comp, of course, is for people who are injured on the job, and you have to show you have been injured on the job. That is how it works. It is a basic principle for workers' comp. In this case, this amendment changes the rules to require compensation for COVID-19 lost wages no matter how risky the Federal employees' behavior might have been outside of the workplace. In other words, no questions asked. If you are a Federal worker and you get COVID-19, you get this. That is not the way workers' comp works. So this is a big change in workforce policy and establishes, again, a dangerous new precedent in workers' comp policy, generally. It also creates a wrong incentive--think about it--for the employee and for the employer. So we oppose this. For Federal workers, the statute is very explicit. It says: Federal workers' compensation ``for the disability or death . . . resulting from personal injury sustained while in the performance of . . . duty.'' Second--I ask unanimous consent for an additional 30 seconds. The PRESIDENT pro tempore.…”