Press Releases

House Republicans today met with working parents to discuss the need for more flexibility in the workplace. At the CENTECH GROUP Inc. office in Falls Church, Virginia, members listened as small business owners and private-sector employees described how the Working Families Flexibility Act of 2013 (H.R. 1406) would help more Americans juggle the demands of family and work. Sponsored by Rep. Martha Roby (R-AL), the legislation would allow private-sector employers to offer employees the opportunity to accrue paid time off, or ‘comp time,’ for working overtime hours. 

House Education and the Workforce Committee Chairman John Kline (R-MN), Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA), Conference Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA), Representative Martha Roby (R-AL), and Representative Renee Ellmers (R-NC) joined working parents to highlight the commonsense proposal that will help families nationwide.

Following the roundtable, members discussed the legislation in a short media availability. Watch the members’ remarks below:

On putting parents before politics
The bill is very simple.  If you are a working parent – as I am – you know one thing all of us have in common and that all of us need is more time. That’s what this bill will allow. It is a commonsense bill that puts parents before politics. – Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA)

On helping workers attend to the needs of their families
There are single dads and [families] where both parents are working and they want to spend time with their kids, going to parent-teacher conferences, baseball games... Time is so important and this bill addresses that need. – Rep. John Kline (R-MN)

On modernizing an outdated law
The times have changed and the number of women in the workforce has changed, yet so many of our federal laws and regulations have not kept pace. They were written at a different time… We need to update these laws. – Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA)

On getting government out of the way of working families
This is your time. You get to choose how to use it. Our message to all working Americans is very clear: We want to get Washington out of the business of telling Americans how to use their time. – Rep. Martha Roby (R-AL)

On empowering workers with more options
We shouldn’t have to be faced with the decision of taking our child to the pediatrician or spending that special time with them in lieu of a conference call or a business decision that we have to make – we should be able to make those decisions. – Rep. Renee Ellmers (R-NC)
 

NOTE: The House is expected to vote on the Working Families Flexibility Act of 2013 tomorrow. Watch the debate here.

To learn more about H.R. 1406, visit republicans-edlabor.house.gov/YourTime.

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