Political Quotes

“on the last day Congress met on October 7, I recorded my serious concerns with the rule on congressional coverage then before the House. While I realized the rule was made necessary by the Senate's failure to act, I felt compelled to note the absence of an employee right to go to court, for full trial, where the underlying law provided that right to private sector employees, rendered the proposal fundamentally defective and I am gratified that the bill now before us extends that right by statute to Hill employees. It also extends 10 major employment laws to Congress, and it is my understanding that we will also add court enforcement under the Veterans Reemployment Act through negotiations with the Senate to the bill that ultimately goes to the President. Let us send a bill to the President soon. I am pleased that after the last several years where many of us have felt alone in trying to bring attention to this issue that it now appears certain we are on the verge of enactment of true congressional coverage. Yes, let us welcome the moment, but let us also admit that this is a step that should have been taken long ago. We will never be as careful as we should be in passing, changing, and drafting laws until we ourselves are forced to comply with those laws and the fundamental unfairness of a double standard is obvious in any case. So let us not pat ourselves on the back too eagerly tonight. It is long overdue.”