Political Quotes

“the Department of Labor's opinion letter that was issued in February was really outrageous. The letter stated that the Fair Labor Standards Act did not allow the value of stock options to be excluded from the calculation of a nonexempt worker's overtime pay. Now, this had not been a problem in 20 years. When I was a corporate executive and we were giving stock options to nonexempt employees, we did it with the idea of they being owners of companies. The effect of this rule and regulation would have been that many workers who are salaried employees would no longer be eligible for stock options, that they were going to be deprived of their piece of the American dream: homeownership, to be able to build equity, and get the kind of income that exempt workers were routinely getting. That was the effect of that decision. Unfortunately, it created a lot of uncertainty within the business community. When this was brought to the attention of the higher-ups, Congress started to act and the administration moved into gear. We appreciate everybody working together now to bring this legislation where it is today. I think the unanimous Senate vote, the fact that the administration is now going to sign legislation that will basically solve the problem that was created when they sent this letter out in February, is an indication that when we work together, we can solve these problems. I want to applaud all concerned.”