Press Releases

Today, Education and Labor Committee Republican Leader Virginia Foxx (R-NC) issued the following statement after Democrats advanced H.R. 3110, the PUMP for Nursing Mothers Act, and H.R. 2062, the Protecting Older Workers Against Discrimination Act, through the Committee without incorporating Republican amendments:

“Time and time again, Democrats squander opportunities to implement common-sense solutions that improve the lives of American workers and business owners. The Democrat proposals offered today are counterproductive, far-reaching, overly punitive, and fail to account for real-world circumstances. Once more, Democrats are offering trial lawyers an extra pay day under the guise of fighting for hardworking mothers and older workers.”   

Specifically, the Democrats’ H.R. 3110 will:

• Treat all nursing mothers and workplaces as if they are all the same, despite known differences in employees’ needs by implementing a one-size-fits-all framework for accommodations;
• Implement excessive and disproportionate penalties; and,
• Expose smaller businesses to additional mandates.

Additionally, H.R. 2062 will:

• Harm older workers by abandoning Supreme Court precedent; and,
• Further a pro-trial lawyer agenda.

Committee Republicans offered commonsense proposals, but Democrats voted against:

• Flexible workplace policies and accommodations that benefit working mothers;
• Protecting nursing mothers’ privacy;
• Compiling data on age discrimination in the workplace to inform Congress’ approach to these issues;
• Protecting older workers from being taken advantage of by greedy trial lawyers;
• Clarifying that a preponderance of evidence is necessary to prove age discrimination to avoid ambiguity; and,
• Clearly stating that nearly all plaintiffs who successfully argue age-discrimination or other cases under H.R. 2062 will not be entitled to financial compensation.