[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 107 (Friday, August 5, 1994)]
[House]
[Page H]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: August 5, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
 CELEBRATING THE 1-YEAR ANNIVERSARY OF THE FAMILY AND MEDICAL LEAVE ACT

  (Mr. BECERRA asked and was given permission to address the House and 
to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. BECERRA. Mr. Speaker, as we forge past the gridlock in this 
Congress that is trying to stop meaningful and needed health care 
reform, let me rise today in honor of the 1-year anniversary of the 
Family and Medical Leave Act. It provides essential rights for the 
working people of our country. It also affords workers an opportunity 
to take better care of their families. Looking back to where we were 
merely a year ago, guaranteed family and medical leave was just not 
available to Americans. Only 37 percent of women in companies with more 
than 100 employees even had maternity leave, and now most American 
workers have access to these and even other benefits.
  I am a new parent myself, and I say to my colleagues, as a son, as a 
husband, and now as a very proud father, that no person should be 
forced to choose between keeping a job and caring for a sick child, 
parent or spouse, nor should parents be forced to choose between 
leaving their new-born baby immediately after the child's birth and 
keeping that job.
  If workers lose their jobs because they choose to meet family 
responsibilities, it not only creates personal strife for that family, 
but also a burden on social programs and the rest of America.
  Mr. Speaker, I am pleased that in celebrating the 1-year anniversary 
of the Family and Medical Leave Act we can also celebrate the fact that 
no American worker will have to make such choices between work and 
family.

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