[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 36 (Wednesday, March 19, 1997)]
[House]
[Pages H1114-H1115]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   URGING COLLEAGUES TO SUPPORT THE WORKING FAMILIES FLEXIBILITY ACT

  (Mr. KINGSTON asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1

[[Page H1115]]

minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. KINGSTON. Mr. Speaker, a couple of years ago I made the difficult 
decision to fly home a little bit early from Washington to return to 
Savannah, GA, to see my 5-year-old's kindergarten graduation. I got on 
what can only be described as the flight from hell. I left Washington, 
flew to Atlanta, and then usually it is about a 30-minute flight to 
Savannah. We went to Augusta, could not get into Savannah, we ended up 
trying to get into Jacksonville, could not get into Jacksonville, went 
to Tampa, spent the night, and the next day went back to Atlanta, then 
tried again to get into Savannah. We could not.
  As a consequence of all this hopping around and so forth and the 
weather, I missed my son's school event. It broke my heart. But do 
Members know what? As a Federal employee, at least I had the option of 
going home to see his play. In the private sector today, the Federal 
Government laws deny employees that option. They cannot take off work 
to go see somebody, to take them to the doctor or go see a school play 
or something.
  But with this new legislation we are passing today, employees for the 
first time in the private sector will be able to work extra and take 
comptime off. They can go ahead and work the 40-hour workweek, and then 
take time off needed for those very important and irreplaceable family 
functions. I hope we can pass comp time today.

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