Federal Employees Paid Parental Leave Act of 2008

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Mr. HOYER. I thank the chairman for yielding, and I thank him for his work on this bill. I thank Mrs. Maloney as well.

Ladies and gentlemen of the House, I would hope we would defeat this motion. Again, this is a motion to recommit promptly. If in fact the motion maker wanted to change the substance and offer an amendment that would go into effect, he would have offered a motion to amend and report back forthwith. The effect of this motion, as we all know, is to delay for some period of time the passage of this bill. My friend from Georgia will get up and ask the rhetorical question that we all know the answer to, does it kill it? It does not kill it. But, my friends, we have 5 legislative days to go in this session before we break. We ought to pass this bill now. We ought to pass this bill and tell the Federal employees of this country, who work for all of us, all 300 million of us, some 2 million civilian Federal employees, that we honor their service.

But, more importantly, this is not just about those who will get leave. It is, as I said in my statement, much more about the children, who will have better nurturing and a sense of self-confidence in their early months of life. Scientist after scientist, educator after educator, tell us that if that occurs, if that bonding occurs in the early months, children are much better off, and if those children are better off, our communities and our society and our families are better off.

I would ask all my colleagues to oppose this motion. Pass this bill. Say to the children who are perhaps yet to be born and have just been born, we want to ensure the best start we can for you in life in America.

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