Jennifer Dunn: “for too long parents have been forced to make tough choices between work and spending time with their children. In fact…”

“for too long parents have been forced to make tough choices between work and spending time with their children. In fact, a 1994 U.S. Department of Labor report found that the No. 1 concern for two-thirds of working women with children is the difficulty of balancing work and family. In two recent surveys, 3 out of 4 parents indicated that they would prefer the option to choose either overtime pay or compensatory time off for working overtime hours. Parents say this would enable them to find a better balance between their work and their family responsibilities. What are we really talking about? Mr. Chairman, in the late 1970's, when my sons were 6 and 8 years old, I found myself in a position to have to have a full-time job and still juggle the responsibilities to my family. Often I would have taken the choice, with a job that required some evenings and weekends and travel, to simply leave that job for a few hours and go to my children's school, talk with their counselors, or see their school plays. A mother should have that choice, Mr. Chairman. Under current law, too many working mothers lie awake at night worrying about whether or not they are giving their children enough quality time. We can do something to help those mothers and we ought to do it. This bill addresses exactly that problem. The legislation is balanced, it is commonsense, and it is a solution to the problem facing the hardworking parents of our country.”