Kay Granger

Ms. GRANGER

Ms. GRANGER. Mr. Chairman, I rise today in strong support of H.R. 1, the Working Families Flexibility Act. I want to tell a story that personifies and exemplifies why American families need the Working Families Flexibility Act. It is a story of a very special woman, her struggle and her triumph; a woman whose life was devoted to her family, her faith and her friends. Alliene Mullendore, who was raised in Fort Worth, TX, lived what some would call a hard life. She believed in old-fashioned values like hard work, honest living and responsibility. When she found herself alone one day with a family to raise and feed, she knew that the rest of her life would be spent trying to balance the twin goals of raising her children emotionally and spiritually while providing for them financially and materially. She was a schoolteacher, and she was also a student. She spent her summers and her nights getting her master's degree so she could advance her career. And she did, eventually becoming the first female principal of an elementary school in the Birdville school district. Although she was crippled by polio in the epidemic of the 1950's, and lived in almost constant pain and fatigue, she still found the strength to teach her classes on crutches as she learned to walk again. Somehow, miraculously, she found the time and energy to raise her two daughters into self-reliant, headstrong women. The years of work and worry left their mark. The long hours at her school and the enormous pressure of being the sole provider for the family took a very heavy toll on this special woman. In her later years she suffered a severe stroke and was confined to her home for the last 11 years of her life. Her days of active living were over. But her life had already touched so many, not just the children who experienced her warm smile and gentle humor as a teacher, but most profoundly she touched the lives of her two daughters, who today carry the memory of their mother with them every single day, knowing all the while how proud she would be. I know, because I am one of those daughters. I can honestly say that I stand here today by the grace of God and the sacrifice of my mother. Martin Luther King once said that the measure of a person is not what they do in times of comfort and convenience but what they do in times of crisis and challenge. According to that standard, my mother was not only a personal success, she was a true American hero. Throughout her life, even in illness, my mother always taught my sister and me that true success in life is measured not by what you get but what you give. My mother gave me everything. So I am very thankful I was able to be there with her during her last years, to give something back to her. I was able to move her into my home, where I could talk to her and care for her and just be with her. I look across America today and I wonder how many daughters could share time with their parents during difficult days like I was able to. I was able to take care of my mother during her final years because I owned my own business and I arranged my own schedule. Tragically, there are millions of men and women each day in America who simply cannot do that. This legislation today is about putting families at the top of our national priority list, giving hourly employees the option to take time off instead of overtime pay, saying thank you to a mother or a father after a lifetime of love and sacrifice. So as a small business owner and a mother and a daughter, I strongly support H.R. 1, and I urge my colleagues from both sides of the aisle to put political considerations and partisan calculations aside. With this bill we can take one small yet very significant step toward the way America should be. Mr. Chairman, comp time will allow working mothers to take time off and go to their child's or daughter's school play, because that is the way America should be. Comp time will allow working fathers to take time off and go to their son's camp. That is the way America should be. And comp time will allow working families the benefits of choice without imposing new Government rules on our businesses. And, Mr. Chairman, I think we all know that is the way America should be. I sure know it, because I would not trade the final moments I had with my mother for anything in the world. Mr. Chairman, our most endangered species in America today is the family. This bill acknowledges that time spent with the family is time well spent. I believe America is a nation built on the memories of yesterday as well as the promise of tomorrow. Today we have a chance with this bill to make sure that the promise of tomorrow is one of hope and happiness for our families, and that is the way America should be. Mr. Chairman, comp time is the right issue at the right time and the right place, and let us pass this legislation because we owe it to our families.

Ms. GRANGER

Ms. GRANGER. Mr. Speaker, wasting time pointing fingers is not what we are about here. This resolution is about working together in a bipartisan way to balance the budget. That is why our resolution invites our President to take the lead and for this Congress to follow the President's leadership. As a freshman, I was sent by my district to work in a bipartisan way to solve our problems. They believed and I believe also that we can solve the problem of the deficit if we work together. This resolution makes this possible by asking the President and the Congress to use the same numbers. I spoke about our responsibility to children, the children of this Nation. I have spoken to the young people who have sat in this Chamber listening to this debate. We must work in a bipartisan way to leave them a nation that does not spend their future. I say no to partisanship rancor and debate over numbers, but I do say yes to bipartisanship and a balanced budget. Mr. Speaker, I support this resolution and hope we have support in this Chamber.

Ms. GRANGER. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to join my colleagues from New Hampshire and Pennsylvania in offering this resolution. Our resolution is not about shutdowns. Our resolution is not about CBO or OMB, and it is not about politics or partisanship. It is not even about how we score budgets. This resolution is about our America's children, about our daughters and our sons. Today our children face a $5.6 trillion debt, $122,400 for every American. I have two sons and one daughter. That means my children owe $67,200. Every child born in our country today will owe nearly $200,000 in taxes over their lifetimes just to pay interest on the debt. That is because the Federal Government, the Federal budget has not been balanced in a generation. Who among our children will be able to share in the American dream if each of them must pay $200,000 just to pay interest on the debt? The answer is that our children will not be able to realize the American dream, and they will not look forward to a future of hope, growth and opportunity tomorrow unless we balance our budget today. We can have a balanced budget for the first time in a generation. During the campaign both the President, President Clinton, and leaders of Congress promised that balancing the budget would be their top priority. Now is the time for both the President and Congress to come together to make good on this commitment. A fellow Texan, Sam Rayburn, once said that anything ever achieved by Congress was done in a bipartisan way. Achieving a balanced budget would be a lasting accomplishment for America's families. A balanced budget would reduce interest rates, slashing the cost of a typical family's mortgage by $38,000. The cost of student loans would be cut nearly $9,000. An estimated 4\1/4\ million new jobs would be created, and family incomes would rise. This resolution will make this great achievement possible by establishing the crucial first step for both the President and Congress to come together to balance the budget. Step one is for both the President and Congress to use the same numbers when considering budgets and for both the President and Congress to balance the Federal books the same way that hard-working families balance their checkbooks each month. That is all this resolution does. Families have to use accurate numbers when they balance their checkbooks, and our resolution asks the President to submit a budget that uses the most careful and accurate economic numbers of the Congressional Budget Office. Families must watch their spending each month. They cannot wait until the last week to use coupons or think about how they will pay the electric bill. So our resolution asks the President and Congress to present budgets that begin to save money today, not tomorrow. And families cannot ignore their most important obligations like paying their mortgage. Similarly our resolution asks the President and Congress to submit budgets that meet the Government's obligation to our seniors by preserving Medicare and asks both the President and the Congress for budgets that preserve Medicare not just for the next election but for the next generation. It is not just American families who must meet the standards contained in our resolution. Last year the blue dog Democrats, the Congressional Black Caucus and the Republican majority and others all submitted budgets that met these basic and simple standards. Each these budgets use the most accurate CBO numbers, each of these budgets achieve budget balance through programmatic changes. Each of these budgets help to address the long-term problem of Medicare. That is why each of these budgets would have met the commonsense standards of our resolution. Unfortunately, the budget that the administration submitted to Congress last month did not meet these basic requirements. The administration's budget increased the deficit while this administration is in office promising to balance the budget after the President leaves office. That is just not right for our children. This budget increased the deficit by $24 billion this year and would leave the budget unbalanced in 2002. That is just not right for our children. It used rosy scenarios and accounting contingencies, not tough choices, to achieve deficit reduction. That is just not right for our children. It failed to protect Medicare for this generation, let alone the future. That is not right for our children, for their parents or for their grandparents. This resolution simply asks the President to meet the same standard that the majority, the blue dog Democrats, and the Congressional Black Caucus met last year. Since we must all work together to balance the budget, it asks all of us to use the same basic standards in our budget resolution. I urge my colleagues to support this resolution to establish a bipartisan, common ground for agreement on a balanced budget. Let us ask both the President and the Congress to submit budgets that meet the same basic requirements, the requirements that our families meet every day.

Ms. GRANGER. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Ms. GRANGER

Ms. GRANGER. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of H.R. 1, the Working Families Flexibility Act. Everett Dirksen once said nothing in the world can stop an idea whose time has come. Mr. Speaker, comp time is clearly such an idea. This is a simple and straightforward piece of legislation that allows employees and employers the option of choosing time off instead of overtime pay. In no way does this bill threaten the Fair Labor Standards Act, and in no way does this bill temper the rights of employees. This is simply a bill which provides an option to help America's workers become full-time parents as well as full-time employees. Why do so many working men and women across America support comp time? They support comp time because it affords them choice. For the mother of three working 40 hours a week, comp time means the choice to take time off and see her daughter's school play. For the father who is raising kids by himself, comp time means the choice to coach his son's little league team. And for the children of the 90's, comp time means a chance to spend more time with the two most important figures in their lives, their moms and dads. Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 1 as a means to an end. The means will be more choice for parents on how to manage their time, but more importantly, the end will be thousands of healthier, happier families. When this bill comes to the floor, I urge my colleagues to support it.

Ms. GRANGER

Ms. GRANGER. Mr. Speaker, it is with great pleasure and even greater pride that I rise today to honor three Texas legends who are well on their way to becoming American legends. Last week millions of Americans turned out in Madison Square Garden to witness the 1997 Grammy Awards. Those awards are given annually to those in the music industry who set the pace. The artists who win these awards are the very best. So as a lifelong resident, a former mayor and now a Congresswoman from Fort Worth, I am enormously proud to honor 3 hometown heroes who stole the show last week in New York. By now, most of America has fallen in love with 14-year-old singing sensation LeAnn Rimes. Born on August 28, 1982, LeAnn Rimes began singing before she was 2 years old. At age 5, she won her first singing competition. At age 6, her family moved to Texas, where country music is an obsession. Needless to say, LeAnn fit right in. Before long, she was making herself very well-known in the country music capital of Texas, Fort Worth. By the time she was 8, she was a regular on Fort Worth's favorite show, ``Johnnie High's Country Music Review.'' This is a wonderful country music extravaganza which my good friend Johnnie High has run for years. Suffice it to say, the folks over at Johnnie High's were very impressed with the young singer, so impressed that word spread throughout the Fort Worth community and beyond. Pretty soon LeAnn was a regular at the Dallas Cowboy football games, where she sang the Star Spangled Banner in front of Troy, Emmitt and 60,000 fans. When LeAnn turned 11, she recorded her first album entitled ``All That.'' The album included a song called ``Blue,'' which was written by another long time Fort Worth great, discjockey Bill Mack. Bill had originally intended the song for Patsy Cline, but she died tragically before she could record it some 30 years ago. How proud Patsy Cline would be today to know that young LeAnn Rimes sang this special song for her. So, Mr. Speaker, it was altogether fitting and appropriate that Mack was honored for Best Song for ``Blue'' and LeAnn was honored as Best Female Country Artist, as well as best new artist in any category. Shortly after the awards program ended, LeAnn was asked at a press conference how she planned to celebrate her awards. ``I guess I will go out to dinner,'' she said. ``I am too young to do anything else.'' Well, LeAnn, you are certainly not too young to be on a one-way ticket to success. Congratulations to you, LeAnn, and to Bill. We are very proud of you. But Fort Worth's country stars were not the only ones to shine last week. Fort Worth is also the home of some of the most inspirational gospel music in the world. It was in the pews of these churches that Kirk Franklin honed his talents for singing gospel music. Kirk was born and raised in Fort Worth. Abandoned by his teenage mother and father at the age of 3, the orphaned Franklin was adopted by an aunt. At age 4, Kirk began to play the piano, and by the time he was in kindergarten, he was a regular on the local gospel music circuit. At age 19, he was recording in the studio. In the early 1990's, gospel fans all over America got the chance to hear what those of us in Fort Worth had been enjoying for years, the amazing, soulful voice of Kirk Franklin. A month after the release of his 1993 album, ``Kirk Franklin and the Family,'' the album was No. 1. In fact, Kirk's initial album marked the first time in the history of gospel music that a debut album sold over 1 million copies. In just 4 short years, Kirk Franklin has become a musical superstar carrying his message of grace, hope, and love to the whole world. Last fall, a tragic accident on stage almost ended Kirk's career. After falling off the stage and into the orchestra pit, Kirk was unconscious for several hours. Doctors feared he might be paralyzed or even die. Instead, less than 2 months after the accident, Kirk was back on the road again. For his incredible moral courage as well as his indispensable music contributions, Kirk Franklin last week was awarded with a Grammy for Best Contemporary Soul-Gospel Album for 1997. So on behalf of music lovers everywhere, but particularly on behalf of a proud hometown, I want to say congratulations to LeAnn Rimes, Bill Mack and Kirk Franklin. You have made your friends, your family and your Nation very proud. Mr. Speaker, I commend to the American people the examples of Bill, LeAnn, and Kirk. While all three of these talents come from different backgrounds and different environments, they are uniquely American. They have showed us all that achievement is based more on desire and determination than on situation and circumstance. They have taught us all that hard work is still the surest road to success.

Ms. GRANGER

Ms. GRANGER. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to join my colleagues today in discussing the need for this Congress to help America's working women. It is particularly appropriate that the Women's Caucus is launching our weekly special orders by focusing on jobs and the workplace. Today more than ever working women are no longer the exception, they are the rule. America's working women are redefining the workplace as we know it. Today women own nearly 6.5 million companies. That is one- third of all the businesses in America. By the year 2000 women will own 40 percent of America's businesses. So it is vitally important that this Congress address the issues and the interests of this very growing segment of our economy. It is becoming increasingly clear that women's issues are economic issues. Jobs, taxes, and economic growth are the concerns of today's women. Female entrepreneurs are here to stay. And while Washington cannot create wealth, we must at least ask our government to follow the first principle of the Hippocratic oath: Do no harm. Government taxation and regulation and litigation hold back our working women. Government taxes prevent female employers and employees from keeping more of their hard-earned money, money needed for furthering their education, expanding their businesses and caring for their families. Today's taxes consume more family income than they spend on food, education, or shelter. We need to make our tax system flatter and fairer so that our women do not have to work almost half the year to foot Government cost. Likewise, Government rules on litigation subject our small businesswomen to needless time and expense. Let us let our working women spend more time in the board-room and less time in the courtroom through legal reform. Mr. Speaker, today's working women are the pioneers of tomorrow. As they struggle to create new jobs, growth, and opportunity, let us make our Government work for our working women. I would like to point out that many women work full time not only at the office but also in the home. In our efforts to enhance and encourage the careers of our women, I am afraid we have sometimes lost sight of the fact that many of our working women are also working mothers. These working mothers need the opportunity to balance their schedules between work and home. After all, meetings with our children are just as important as meetings with our staff. As a working mother of three, I understand there is no price tag on time with our loved ones. As a former mayor, I learned that comp time works in the public sector. Let us help our working women by giving workers in the private sector the same choice. Mr. Speaker, the working women of America are essential to ensuring that our Nation continues on a path of economic growth and personal responsibility. I urge my colleagues to support measures which promote and protect the dual role of America's women as leaders at the office and leaders in the home. General Leave