Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2004

DEPARTMENTS OF LABOR, HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES, AND EDUCATION, AND RELATED AGENCIES APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2004—CONTINUED

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I came to the floor this afternoon to speak about the amendment offered by Senator Harkin, and I will do so in just a minute. But first I want to congratulate Senator Byrd for his tremendous work on education and thank him for his extremely strong voice in this area.

I know many students are starting school this week. Many young people are just starting out in kindergarten across the country this year. They will be grateful for Senator Byrd and his strong support of education. But so will the many students who have traveled to school while he has been here in the Senate advocating for them. I thank him for his work on their behalf over the many years. For all the young people out there who benefited from his wisdom and support but also, very importantly, for the teachers who will benefit as well, I thank my colleague from West Virginia.

Mr. BYRD. Mr. President, I thank the very distinguished Senator from Washington, Mrs. Murray.

AMENDMENT NO. 1580

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I came to the floor today to speak in strong support not only of Senator Byrd's amendment but also of the amendment offered by Senator Harkin. The amendment Senator Harkin has offered is extremely critical in today's world. It is offered in order to protect hard-working Americans such as our police, firefighters, and our nurses who rely today on overtime pay.

It is unbelievable to me that today as families struggle in this extremely difficult economy, the Bush administration wants to cut overtime pay for millions of Americans who depend on it just to make ends meet at home.

My colleagues have been in the Chamber discussing the Bush administration's proposed changes to the Fair Labor
Standards Act which sets the rules regarding overtime pay in this country. According to the Economic Policy Institute, those changes are going to mean a pay cut for up to 10 million working families. These proposed changes will mean a pay cut for up to 10 million working Americans. These families are working really hard today. They are playing by the rules.
They are trying to make ends meet. And this administration is squeezing them once again. To me that is unacceptable. That is why the Harkin amendment is so important today.

The question I have is this: Haven't American workers been punished enough by this President's economic policies? Not only have we seen millions of Americans lose their pensions but we have seen massive tax cuts for the few while everyone else struggles just to get by.

In my home State of Washington alone, we have lost more than 73,000 good-paying jobs since this administration came into office. My State unemployment rate is now the third highest in the Nation at 7.5 percent. In fact, just recently one of our business columnists suggested that the actual unemployment rate for Western States could be as high as 11.8 percent, if you count all of our unemployed workers.

Here we are with so many people out of work and so many people struggling to keep their jobs. Now this administration wants to force a pay cut on those people who are working overtime for their employers and are just trying to make ends meet. I don't think we should forget that these workers are now often the only breadwinners in their family. This change will hurt up to 10 million hard-working Americans. I come to the floor today to talk about some of the real people who are going to be squeezed by this amendment.

Right now, our firefighters, our policemen, and our EMTs are working very hard on the front lines on homeland security.
They have gone above and beyond the call of duty, often with inadequate training and often with inadequate equipment. But they are doing it to protect us in this dangerous age. Today, many of them are working overtime in order to do that.

Now the Bush administration is telling our firefighters, our policemen, and our EMTs that they don't deserve overtime pay for the extra work they do. I find that very insulting. We know it will hurt their ability to provide for their families who every day watch these men and women go off to work and hope they return safely at the end of the day. Even worse, it really violates the great trust we place in this country on our first responders.

The International Union of Police Associations has estimated that 200,000 midlevel police officers will lose $150 million in overtime pay if these new regulations are implemented. I believe our firefighters, our policemen, and our EMTs deserve overtime pay for their overtime work. The Bush administration is trying to squeeze them, and that is wrong.

Let me give you another example of whom this change will hurt. In communities across the country we have a shortage of nurses. I hear it from everyone who comes into our office. It is really causing hardship everywhere. These nurses are working really hard. They are providing care under extremely difficult conditions. Now the Bush administration is going to prevent more than 230,000 licensed practical nurses from getting overtime pay. They work hard for it. Frankly, in my view, they deserve every penny they get.

When I first heard about this disturbing proposal, I joined with my colleagues to tell the Bush administration they are on the wrong track. As the ranking Democrat on the Subcommittee on Employment, Safety, and Training, I was proud to join with Senator Kennedy and 40 other Senators in sending a letter to Secretary of Labor Chao. We asked her not to implement the proposed regulation that would deny overtime pay to hard-working Americans.

In our letter, we asked the Secretary to consider millions of workers who depend on overtime pay to make ends meet and to pay for things such as food, childcare, housing, health care, and sending their kids to college—what every family wants today. We know overtime pay also makes up to 20 to 25 percent of an eligible worker's wages. But it seems this administration would rather provide tax cuts for the rich—that is where their priorities are—while cutting the pay of working Americans who most often live paycheck to paycheck.

During this debate, we heard some dubious arguments from the other side. We heard that we need to update the Fair Labor Standards Act because it was passed back in 1938. But what they haven't told us is that Congress has updated that act in fact eight times.

In 1985, Congress reviewed the law and extended it to State and local governments, leaving in place the current overtime exemptions.

Furthermore, the Bush administration is taking some unprecedented steps. Never before has the legislative branch authorized changes in the overtime rule. Never before has Congress directed the Department of Labor to take overtime pay away from millions of American workers.

You have to wonder, why the urgent need now to gut these time-tested worker protections? Could it be that the Bush administration and its business allies want to reduce the amount they pay in wages? Maybe it is because employers know in this very tough economy employees will just go along and accept the loss of overtime because they are so afraid they will be laid off. I will leave it to others to answer those questions.

The Senate should not support this coercive antiworker proposal. It will drain the wallets of millions of Americans who are working hard today to put food on the table. This proposal from the White House, in my opinion, is just another slap to working Americans. We need to stop it in the Senate.

I commend the Senator from Iowa for offering this critical amendment. Senator Harkin has always been a great friend to working Americans, and today those Americans need this Harkin amendment to protect them from this administration's designs.

I urge my colleagues to stand up for our firefighters, stand up for our police, stand up for our EMTs, stand up for our nurses who work every day for Americans. Stop this proposed pay cut for American workers.

I yield the floor.