[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 133 (Tuesday, September 24, 1996)]
[Senate]
[Pages S11135-S11136]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      FAMILY AND MEDICAL LEAVE ACT

  Mr. BROWN. Mr. President, I had the pleasure earlier today of 
listening to the distinguished Senator from Connecticut talk about the 
Family Leave Act. He talked in very laudatory terms of the many 
positive changes that it has brought about.
  Mr. President, I also want to voice a positive response to the fact 
that employers do provide family leave, a time to be with their family 
and loved ones at a time that is important, during medical emergencies. 
But, Mr. President, I think it would be a shame to allow the subject to 
pass without observing what the real issue was.
  The real issue in the Family and Medical Leave Act was not that 
people should have time with their families. Of course they should. 
Many employers provided that before the act was in place. Certainly I 
believe, within the possibilities of jobs--not all jobs have 
flexibility--but within the possibilities of the jobs involved, that 
certainly should be the case in terms of company policy.
  But, Mr. President, with all due respect to the distinguished Senator 
from Connecticut, he just doesn't get it. One of the tragedies, I 
think, of our system as it developed is that our legislative bodies are 
populated by people who have not had the experience of real work in the 
private sector. They have not had an opportunity to be involved in 
business and understand what is involved when you have an essential 
function that has to be done and someone is not there.
  Perhaps most of all, Mr. President, many, unfortunately, do not 
understand what they have done to our country in the last few years by 
flooding it, inundating it with regulations and rules and laws.
  I think of it in terms of the company that I used to work for. When I 
was corporate counsel, it was myself and a part-time assistant 
secretary. Right now, that same function, with similar 
responsibilities, is composed of four full-time attorneys, three legal 
assistants, and a backup division of more than 120 people. Do they do a 
better job than I did? Yes; I suspect they do.
  But, Mr. President, what has happened is an explosion of regulation. 
The problem is not whether or not people should have family medical 
leave. The problem is whether or not the Federal Government ought to 
dictate the minute details of how jobs are run in this country, how 
things operate in this country.
  The question is not whether or not we have an economy that is 
flexible and variable or whether or not we divert the resources of this 
country to micromanage things from the top; the question, with all due 
respect to those who worked so hard on that piece of legislation, is 
not whether or not you have family or medical leave. Of course you 
ought to have it. The question is whether or not you have a Government, 
a Federal Government, that sees its responsibility as one of 
centralizing control of the Nation, one of mandating and dictating the 
details of how we live our daily lives.

[[Page S11136]]

  It may come as a surprise to some, but most Americans are pretty good 
at knowing what is good for them. They might even know better than 
those of us in Washington who so often tell them what to do.

                          ____________________