FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, CONTACT: (202) 225-1025
March 2, 2000
No. HR-17
Congresswoman Nancy L. Johnson (R-CT), Chairman, Subcommittee on Human Resources of the Committee on Ways and Means, today announced that the Subcommittee will hold a hearing on Unemployment Compensation and the Family and Medical Leave Act. The hearing will take place on Thursday, March 9, 2000, in room B-318 Rayburn House Office Building, beginning at 10:00 a.m.
Oral testimony at this hearing will be from invited witnesses only. Witnesses will include State legislators as well as representatives of business, labor, and State Unemployment Compensation administrators. However, any individual or organization not scheduled for an oral appearance may submit a written statement for consideration by the Committee and for inclusion in the printed record of the hearing.
BACKGROUND:
On December 3, 1999, the U.S. Department of Labor issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that outlined an Administration proposal to allow States to use Unemployment Compensation funds to provide partial wage replacement to parents on leave following the birth or adoption of a child.
The nature of the American workforce has changed since the Unemployment Compensation program was founded in 1935. Today's workforce contains many more mothers, especially of young children, than at any time in the past. The Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (P.L. 103-3), gave opportunities to working mothers and their families by requiring certain employers to provide up to 3 months of unpaid leave to parents of newborn babies and to parents who adopt. The Administration proposal to allow States to use Unemployment Compensation funds would pay a stipend to parents to take such a leave. The proposal does not require States to provide this benefit but leaves it to the States' option. Current rules allow Unemployment Compensation benefits to be paid during training, illness, jury duty, and temporary layoffs.
A basic tenet of the Unemployment Compensation program is that only involuntarily employed workers are covered. Expanding these benefits to voluntarily unemployed workers would represent a major expansion of the program. Any increase in benefits would in the long run use more money than is in the trust accounts that support State programs. To replace these funds, a tax increase would be needed to provide the additional revenue to finance the new benefit. Families rely on unemployment compensation to help them during periods of involuntary unemployment. Any changes to this important system requires careful consideration by Congress in the appropriate legislative process.
In announcing the hearing, Chairman Johnson stated: "The Family and Medical Leave Act has served many families well by giving them opportunities to take time off from work during periods of urgent family or medical need. However, in order to expand this important program, we should not jeopardize another essential public program such as the Unemployment Compensation system. We do not want to pit out-of-work Americans against their neighbors who have jobs and we do not want to open the nation's Unemployment Compensation system to uses for which it was never intended. Instead, we should have legislation brought before the Congress for open and honest discussion."
FOCUS OF THE HEARING:
The hearing will focus on whether using Unemployment Compensation funds to pay cash stipends to parents taking family leave is good policy and whether using the rulemaking process to impose these changes is appropriate.
DETAILS FOR SUBMISSION OF WRITTEN COMMENTS:
Any person or organization wishing to submit a written statement for the printed record of the hearing should submit six (6) single-spaced copies of their statement, along with an IBM compatible 3.5-inch diskette in WordPerfect or MS Word format, with their name, address, and hearing date noted on a label, by the close of business, Thursday, March 23, 2000, to A.L. Singleton, Chief of Staff, Committee on Ways and Means, U.S. House of Representatives,
1102 Longworth House Office Building, Washington, D.C. 20515. If those filing written statements wish to have their statements distributed to the press and interested public at the hearing, they may deliver 200 additional copies for this purpose to the Subcommittee on Human Resources office, room B-317 Rayburn House Office Building, by close of business the day before the hearing.
FORMATTING REQUIREMENTS:
Each statement presented for printing to the Committee by a witness, any written statement or exhibit submitted for the printed record or any written comments in response to a request for written comments must conform to the guidelines listed below. Any statement or exhibit not in compliance with these guidelines will not be printed, but will be maintained in the Committee files for review and use by the Committee.
1. All statements and any accompanying exhibits for printing must be submitted on an IBM compatible 3.5-inch diskette WordPerfect or MS Word format, typed in single space and may not exceed a total of 10 pages including attachments. Witnesses are advised that the Committee will rely on electronic submissions for printing the official hearing record.
2. Copies of whole documents submitted as exhibit material will not be accepted for printing. Instead, exhibit material should be referenced and quoted or paraphrased. All exhibit material not meeting these specifications will be maintained in the Committee files for review and use by the Committee.
3. A witness appearing at a public hearing, or submitting a statement for the record of a public hearing, or submitting written comments in response to a published request for comments by the Committee, must include on his statement or submission a list of all clients, persons, or organizations on whose behalf the witness appears.
4. A supplemental sheet must accompany each statement listing the name, company, address, telephone and fax numbers where the witness or the designated representative may be reached. This supplemental sheet will not be included in the printed record.
The above restrictions and limitations apply only to material being submitted for printing. Statements and exhibits or supplementary material submitted solely for distribution to the Members, the press, and the public during the course of a public hearing may be submitted in other forms.
The
Committee seeks to make its facilities accessible to persons with
disabilities. If you are in need of special accommodations, please
call 202-225-1721 or 202-226-3411 TTD/TTY in advance of the event
(four business days notice is requested). Questions with regard to
special accommodation needs in general (including availability of
Committee materials in alternative formats) may be directed to the
Committee as noted above.