Political Quotes

“I rise today to speak in on H.R. 4106, the Telework Improvements' Act of 2008. This issue has long been a struggle for many of us here in Congress, especially those Members representing the National Capital Region. The problem is far too many federal agencies are missing the opportunity to promote teleworking among their employees. Ninety percent of the employees eligible to telework do not do so at this time. With the vast majority of the federal government's workforce located here in the National Capital Region, utilizing telework will have an immediate and dramatic impact on the traffic congestion in the region. It will also increase worker productivity as our Federal workforce spends less time commuting to and from work every day. As an added benefit, keeping people off the roads will reduce our carbon emissions. Everybody benefits, not just the teleworkers. Several improvements were made to this legislation during Committee consideration, many at my request. First, the reported version includes stronger language regarding the protection of information being accessed through remote networks. This IT security language is important to reassure the general public that, as we promote the use of telework in federal agencies, the government is taking necessary steps to make sure personal information is safeguarded.”