[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 96 (Wednesday, June 26, 1996)]
[House]
[Pages H6849-H6850]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   EXPRESSION OF SYMPATHY TO THE FAMILIES OF THE VICTIMS OF THE BOMB 
                   EXPLOSION IN DHAHRAN, SAUDI ARABIA

  (Mr. MONTGOMERY asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. MONTGOMERY. Madam Speaker, on behalf of the minority leader, Mr. 
Gephardt, who cannot be here this morning, and myself, I wish to 
express sadness to the families who have lost their loved ones in the 
bomb explosion in Saudi Arabia. Not only Americans were killed, but 
others from France and from Great Britain probably were killed or hurt.
  Now, Madam Speaker, this has to be a terrorist attack, in my opinion. 
Who did it, we do not know. But only 7 months ago, a car bomb explosion 
killed 5 Americans in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. You know, we are really 
there in these countries for no other reason but to help these people 
and to bring peace in these areas. Why do these bad people hurt our 
innocent victims that are only doing their jobs? The President has sent 
FBI teams to help the Saudis to find out who did this heinous crime.

[[Page H6850]]



                  THE WORKING FAMILIES FLEXIBILITY ACT

  (Mr. BALLENGER asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. BALLENGER. Madam Speaker, anyone watching the news this week 
would have been impressed with the President's sudden commitment to 
promoting workplace flexibility, but my question is this: Where was the 
President last year when I introduced the Working Families Flexibility 
Act; a bill that would allow an employee to choose between cash wages 
or paid time off for overtime work--a valuable opportunity to spend 
more time with family. Not only did the President oppose this bill--at 
the request of the Washington union bosses who are spending $35 million 
to run false and misleading campaign ads against Republicans--but his 
Chief of Staff, Leon Panetta, calls it a poison pill. Why the sudden 
change of heart?
  Madam Speaker, my guess is the President's army of political hacks 
and spin gurus suddenly discovered in their polling that American women 
overwhelmingly support the Republican Working Families Flexibility Act, 
and they had better do some good ole stump proposals just to cover 
their electoral bases. While Washington pundits might praise the 
President's ability to hijack important issues for political gain, this 
kind of gamesmanship only hurts the American people and their ability 
to balance the conflicting pressures of work and family--especially 
working women. This is hardly a formula for election year success.

                          ____________________