Political Quotes

“reserving the right to object, let me just say that over the last year, we have heard constantly that you should ``stay home when you are sick.'' It is good advice, of course, and the right thing to do for public health, and I certainly encourage people to do it. But what I thought about every single time was, what about the workers who can't just stay home? There are a lot of them. Right now, 32 million American workers do not have access to a single paid sick day. Let me repeat that. Thirty-two million people in the United States will lose pay if they stay home because they are sick or because they have to care for a sick loved one. Only 20 percent of private sector workers in the United States have paid family leave through their employer, meaning millions of workers will lose pay if they give birth or have a sick child, for just a few examples. What I hear from workers in these situations is that they need to know they have the ability to take time off without worrying about losing their paycheck and without worrying about whether their boss will allow them. That is why I am on the floor today to object in the strongest terms to the misleadingly titled bill the Senator from Utah just proposed. His bill would allow employers to offer workers' comp time instead of time-and-a-half pay when workers put in overtime. Here is why this won't work when it comes to taking paid leave.…”