On the recordMay 2, 2017
I have listened to the debate on the floor, and I want to join my fellow colleagues--women and men of the Democratic Caucus--on opposing the Working Families Flexibility Act of 2017. I just have one anecdotal story that reflects the constituents that I represent. Take that woman who I saw--when going to my elementary schools, visiting them, I saw a mother who got up at 4 in the morning to take three buses to drop her young child off at an elementary school, and then get two buses back to work, an hourly wage maker. She does it because, one, she is supporting her child and, two, she has got to work. This bill is a complete undermining of all of the hardworking men and women who need their money to pay a light bill, to pay rent, maybe even a mortgage, to pay the normal expenses that many take for granted. And this bill wants to substitute compensatory time for overtime pay. So I cannot imagine that anyone with a heart would have this legislation as a substitute for this hardworking mother to be paid overtime. I just can't imagine that compensatory time off cannot pay the light bill, cannot pay rent, cannot pay healthcare costs, which we see are immediately being taken away from 24 million Americans. So I oppose this legislation because I want to stand on the side of the hardworking mother who needs her resources for a school uniform, a school trip, a rent payment, a light bill. Mr. Speaker, this bill should be opposed. It does not serve the American people.
