Orrin Hatch: “I rise to speak on a matter of great importance that seems to have slipped through the cracks of the public's…”

“I rise to speak on a matter of great importance that seems to have slipped through the cracks of the public's consciousness. However, with the growing furor over the recent scandal at the Veterans' Administration, I expect more and more people will be made aware of it. I don't think it is unreasonable to argue that most Americans would be outraged to learn the Federal Government pays tens of millions of dollars every year to pay hundreds, if not thousands, of government employees not to work. This practice used to be called featherbedding. ``The term `featherbedding' originally referred to any person who is pampered, coddled, or excessively rewarded.'' It was later used to describe certain labor relations practices. According to Wikipedia: The modern use of the term in the labor relations setting began in the United States railroad industry, which used feathered mattresses in sleeping cars. Railway labor unions, confronted with changing technology which led to widespread unemployment, sought to preserve jobs by negotiating contracts which required employers to compensate workers to do little or no work or which required complex and time- consuming work rules so as to generate a full day's work for an employee who otherwise would not remain employed. Congress tried to put an end to the practice in the 1947 Taft-Hartley Act amendments, which defined and outlawed featherbedding. However, the U.S.…”