Patrick Kennedy: “Mr. Chairman, I want to echo some of the comments that have been made by my colleagues, most particularly the comments…”

“Mr. Chairman, I want to echo some of the comments that have been made by my colleagues, most particularly the comments just made by my colleague, the gentleman from California (Mr. Lewis), with respect to the marketplace and the fact that, in these instances, the marketplace dictates that these provisions do be provided. Do my colleagues know why? In order to get the best people. These provisions need to be provided because, in this tight labor market, employers want to make sure they get the best possible talent. And I am sure the gentleman from California (Mr. Riggs) means no slight to those who are receiving human services. Because, obviously, we want the best people out there who are capable of delivering human services to be the people that we have deliver human services. We would not want to shut out anybody from being able to deliver those human services. So I think we need to address that point that the gentleman from California (Mr. Lewis) brought up, because I think it is a very good point. It is not a matter of these private companies having extra money so they can dig into their pockets and do something that feels good. These companies adhere to stock markets. They need to provide the best maximum profit. And the reason they know they can do it and provide these benefits is because they know they are going to get the best possible people.”