Political Quotes

“I thank the managers of this legislation. And I think it should be made very clear, since we'll have a general debate that I hope to engage in, that the underlying premise of this bill, H.R. 1406, is two simple points, and H.R. 1406 undermines this point. The Fair Labor Standards Act only provides the incentive for employers to adhere to the 40-hour workweek by paying time and a half. H.R. 1406 removes that fundamental requirement and allows employers to pay nothing for overtime work at the time the work is performed. I, too, am sensitive to those who want to join with their families, and clearly, that opportunity is there. But if you allow this bill to go forward, you take the choice out of the hands of the employee. And if you are looking at a boilermaker, or those in manufacturing, and a boilermaker can have close to 210 overtime hours making a certain amount per hour, literally, if you force them to take comp time and not be paid, you would cause them to lose their time and a half, and they would lose almost $6,000 in income. I can tell you, with the economic divide between the top 1 percent and working Americans, many people work overtime in order to receive payment. And I think that H.R. 1406 goes in the wrong direction.…”