[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 186 (Friday, October 22, 2021)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1134-E1135]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  IN SUPPORT OF RULE GOVERNING DEBATE OF H.R. 3110, PUMP FOR NURSING 
                              MOTHERS ACT

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. SHEILA JACKSON LEE

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                        Friday, October 22, 2021

  Ms. JACKSON LEE. Madam Speaker, I rise today in support H.R. 3110, 
the ``Pump for Nursing Mothers Act,'' which will close an unintentional 
loophole in the 2010 Break Time for Nursing Mothers Act.
  The 2010 law requires employers to provide break time and a place for 
hourly wage-earning and some salaried employees to express breast milk 
at work for one year after the birth of the employee's child.
  Unfortunately, this law unintentionally excluded a quarter of all 
working women--nearly nine million employees--from protection.
  H.R. 3110 closes this coverage gap by extending the law's protections 
to cover salaried employees as well as other categories of employees 
currently exempted from protections, such as teachers, nurses, and 
farmworkers.
  H.R. 3110 would also provide employers clarity on paid and unpaid 
pumping time.
  The bill leaves in place existing law protecting many salaried 
workers from having their pay docked and clarifies that employers must 
pay an hourly employee for any time spent pumping if the employee is 
also working.
  Lastly, the bill would ensure that nursing mothers have access to 
remedies that are available for other violations of the Fair Labor 
Standards Act.
  According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, women 
with children are the fastest-growing segment of the workforce, and 
balancing work and family is an important priority for all employees.
  More than 80 percent of new mothers in the United States begin 
breastfeeding, 1 and 6 in every 10 new mothers are in the workforce.
  New parents face an incredible amount of increased difficulties while 
juggling work, family and mental and emotional tolls that are 
exacerbated as a new parent.
  According to a study published in Reviews in Obstetrics and 
Gynecology, breastfeeding provides health benefits for not only 
infants, but also for mothers.
  For mothers, abstaining from breastfeeding has been associated with 
an increase in developing various types of cancers, type 2 diabetes, 
heart attacks, retained gestational

[[Page E1135]]

weight gain and metabolic syndrome in adult women.
  For infants, not being breastfed is associated with infectious 
illnesses such as pneumonia, ear infections, gastroenteritis, and can 
increase the risk of developing childhood-onset obesity, type 1 and 2 
diabetes, leukemia and SIDS.
  This bill will ensure that mothers will no longer be forced to choose 
between their own health, their infant's health, and their income.
  This includes individuals like Melissa Hodgkins, who has had to bring 
suit against her employer simply to provide workers with a clean, 
private place and breaks to breast pump at work.
  Her coworkers were often of losing their paychecks to ask the airline 
to accommodate them; in fact, when some of her coworkers did ask for 
breaks and a place to pump, her employer actually prohibited them from 
pumping at work, and even forced them off the job without a paycheck.
  The PUMP for Nursing Mothers Act will stop such bad actions by 
employers and alleviate the disparities that currently exist between 
breastfeeding employees and their coworkers, sending a clear message 
that the workforce will protect and support women who opt to balance a 
career and motherhood.
  For these reasons, I encourage all Members to support H.R. 3110, the 
``Pump for Nursing Mothers Act.''

                          ____________________