Federal Employees Paid Parental Leave Act of 2008

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Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank Mr. Davis from Illinois for yielding. I particularly want to thank my good friend, CAROLYN MALONEY, the distinguished Representative from New York, who has been such a giant on behalf of this issue and family issues generally.

Mr. Speaker, every Member of this body, from the most conservative to the most liberal, shares the conviction that the surest way to improve the quality of life in our Nation is to strengthen our families. Strong families enhance well-being, improve children's self-esteem, and significantly increase the odds that children will succeed in school and grow up to be good parents themselves.

Study after study shows that a strong predictor of child well-being is the degree to which a parent and child bond in the first months of a child's birth. The more constant and nurturing that bond is in the early months of life, the better off the child will be down the road. That is why this is such an incredibly important piece of legislation.

The Federal Government, in many ways, as an employer, has been a leader, not a follower, a leader in efforts to ensure positive employee policies. In fact, the private sector has adopted many of these same policies.

We all know that the 1993 Family and Medical Leave Act has been an outstanding success in helping to promote healthy families. So this is not so much about the mother or the father, it is about the child, and the sense of well-being and groundedness that the child has.

Unfortunately, all too often people who have availed themselves of the law to take care of their newborns, or care for ailing parents, have had to make economic sacrifices because the Family and Medical Leave Act does not entitle anyone to receive an income.

Now, very frankly, it's all good and well for most of us, or all of us that serve in this body to say, well, we could take off 6 weeks without pay. Most of us could do that. Certainly my good friend Mr. Issa could do that. I could do it.

But very frankly, I have three daughters, and they may be able to rely on Dad to help them do it, but if Dad were not able to do it, they would not be able to do it. They've all had the opportunity to spend time with my three grandchildren as those grandchildren were born in early years, and that was not only beneficial to my grandchildren, it was beneficial to the community in which they will live.

Currently, the Federal Government does not provide paid parental leave to its employees. Employees must use accrued annual and sick leave if they want to maintain an income stream while they're out.

By providing 4 weeks of paid leave to Federal employees, which, by the way, most Members of Congress already do, for their employees for the birth and adoption of a child, H.R. 5781 recognizes that economic security is a critical ingredient in ensuring that parental leave succeeds.

Mr. Speaker, the Federal Government is the Nation's largest employer. It should set a strong, positive example for how the needs of the workplace and the needs of the employees can be balanced, and indeed, the needs of the children can be met. H.R. 5781 is an important step in doing just that.

Again, I congratulate CAROLYN MALONEY, who has been a real leader on this effort for her entire career in the Congress of the United States. I'm so pleased to be her ally in this effort.

I also want to turn to my friend, TOM DAVIS, who himself has been a giant, along with FRANK WOLF, and a partner of mine, in promoting the well-being and appropriate benefits for our Federal employees, on whom this country relies in so many ways to give them a government that is a partner with our private sector in maintaining the greatest country on the face of the earth. And I thank Mr. Davis for his leadership.

I'm sorry Mr. Davis will be leaving us at the end of the year and will not be serving in the next Congress. And I will say, I am sure, many times, how beneficial his service has been to Federal employees, and how beneficial his service has been to the Washington metropolitan region and, indeed, to the country. And I thank him for his leadership on this particular effort.

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