upon the table. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from texas rise? >> i'd like to have my name removed as a co-sponsor to -- for h. 6041. the speaker pro tempore: without

objection. the house will come to order. could we please remove conversations from the floor. please remove conversations from the floor. for what purpose does the gentleman from illinois rise?

mr. davis: mr. speaker, mr. speaker, pursuant to house rule 1277 i call up the bill h.r. 5781 and ask for its immediate consideration. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will rort the title of the

bill. the clerk: union calendar number 389. h.r. 5781, a bill to provide that -- >> mr. speaker, the house is not in order. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is correct. please remove

your conversations from the floor. could we clear the aisles and have conversations removed from the floor. clerk will continue. the clerk: union calendar number 389. h.r. 5781, a bill to provide

that eight of the 12 weeks of parental leave made available to a federal employee shall be paid leave and for other purposes. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to house resolution 1277,

the amendment in the nature of a substitute is printed in the bill as adopted and the bill as amended is considered as read. after one hour of debate on the bill as amended, it shall be in

order to consider the amendment printed in house report 110-118 if offered by the gentleman from illinois, mr. davis, or his designee, which shall be in order without intervention of any point of order

or demand for division othe question. shall be considered read and shall be debatable for 10 minutes equally divided and controlled by the proponent and an opponent. the gentleman from illinois,

mr. davis, and the gentleman from california, mr. issa, will each control 30 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from illinois. mr. davis: mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent that all members

may have five legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. davis: now, mr. speaker, i yield myself such time as i might consume.

the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman will suspend just for a moment. could we ask the conversations at the rear of the chamber by staff to be removed. e gentleman deserves to be heard. the

gentleman will proceed. mr. davis: thank you, mr. speaker. mr. speaker, today i rise in strong support of h.r. 5781, the federal employees paid parental leave act of 2008. which was introduced

by our colleague, congresswoman maloney, on april 14, 2008. as chairman of the subcommittee on the federal work force postal service and the district of columbia, i'm proud to serve as an

original co-sponsor of this bill, along with 21 other members of congress. h.r. 5781 takes an important step in improving the federal government's ability to recruit and retain a highly qualified

workforce by providing paid parental leave to federal and congressional employees for the birth, adoption or placement of a child for foster care, which is a benefit that is extended to most employees

in the private sector as well as to government employees in other countries. in considering h.r. 5781, the subcommittee on the federal workforce postal service and the district of columbia marked up

the bill on april 15, 2008, and favorably recommended the measure to the full committee on oversight and government reform after adopting an amendment offered by committee chairman henry waxman

that would permit only four weeks of paid parental leave instead of the eight weeks included in the bill as introduced. the full committee then held a markup on h.r. 5781 on april 16, 2008, and

ordered the bill to be reported to the floor as amended by a roll call vote of 21-10. during the consideration of h.r. 5781, i had asked that language be included in the bill directing the government

accountability office to study the feasibility of providing a disability insurance benefit to federal employees who had to take time off to care for a spouse, child or parent that has

a serious health condition or for a federal employee that has a serious health condition that renders him or her unable to perform their job functions. while the manager'amendment that we

will be discussing later on removes this provision from the bill, i am happy to report that at my request, g.a.o. has agreed to perform a study that will analyze disability insurance benefits

that are currently being offered by states, local governments and the private sector. the bill being considered today will allow all federal and congressional employees to receive four

weeks of paid leave taken under the family medical leave act for the birth, adoption or placement of a foster child. as many of my colleagues are aware, the current fmla statute provides

federal workers up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave for the birth, adoption or placement of a foster child with an employee. mr. speaker, the bill before us does nothing more than permi federal employees

to receive paid leave for four out of the 12 weeks if the leave is connected to the birth, adoption or placement of a foster child, and to use sick or annual leave if available for the remaining

eight weeks. let us be clear, this bill currently being considered does not provide federal workers any additional time or expand beyond the 12 weeks given under the current law. the bill before

us has also been strengthened by the director of the office of personnel management, the authority to increase paid parental leave from four weeks to eight weeks after considering a thorough

cost and benefit analysis. parental leave is a pertinent concern around the world. and, unfortunately, america's lagging behind in offering paid leave for parents. the governments of 168 countries

offer guaranteed paid leave to their female employees in connection with child birth. 98 of these countries offer 14 or more weeks paid leave. currently the federal government as an employer guarantees

no paid leave. therefore, mr. speaker, i again reiterate my support for h.r. 5781, the federal employees paid parental leave act of 2008, and urge my colleagues to join me in voting in favor

of this measure and i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from california. mr. issa: thank you, mr. speaker. i -- i apologize, i yield myself

such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. issa: thank you, mr. speaker. mr. speaker, this is a bill in search of benefits that in fact do not exist

in any great numbers in the private sector. this is a new perk in a time in which the american people are having to make cutbacks, they're driving less, they're very clearly suffering under the

incredible cost of rising energy prices. so this is a bill whose time should not be coming and with that i'd like to yield to the ranking member of the full committee, mr. davis, four minutes.

the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from virginia is recognized for four minutes. f mr. davis: thank you, mr. chairman. i thank my friend for yielding. i rise today in strong support of the

federal employees paid parental leave act. this important legislation is intended to improve the quality of life for the federal workforce, which in turn will help promote productivity and reduce federal

employee attrition. as we've discussed many times before on this house floor, the federal government is facing a wave of retirements in the near future with approximately 60% of the workforce eligible

to retire in the next decade. this legislation had help the federal government recruit and retain top-notch employees to replace those that are currently facing retirement. regardless of whether

you support a larger government or a smaller government, i believe we all agree on one thing, whatever the size of government, it should be run as effectively as possible with as good people as

we can get in doing it. this bill helps promote this efficiency by improving re-- improving retention and reducing employee turnover. as it becomes more and more common for both apparents in a hoehold

to participate in a workforce, any major employer who expects to complete for talent in the marketplace is going to have to present themselves as family friendly. this is what the legislation

will do for the federal government. i understand many of my colleagues have concern with the estimated cost of $850 million over five years, i understand. but, folks, waste in government

is through our business processes and the way we do business. it's through mismanagement. it's through not proper oversight of contracts. if you really want to eliminate waste in government

let's get good people in there and train them and offer a competitive package so we can offer these young people coming out of college to get them to not only join the federal government but stay in

the federal workforce. this is what this legislation does. bringing the best and brightest to government and helping to maintain them there. if you want to stop the leakage and the waste and mismanagement

in government, you stop with -- start with a top-flightworks for and we need to be competitive to do that. i believe these critical weeks after birth and adoption will help promote strong families,

something we talk about a lot. in addition to reducing turnover and improving the productivity. the incoming -- incoming generation of federal employees and all employees for that matter want to

feel they're part of an organization that's contributing to their lives and their well-being. given the loyalty and the service we seek from them, that same dedication should not be too much

to ask from their employer. mr. chairman, we're past the stage in our development as a nation when paid parental leave should be considered an extravagant or unnecessary fringe benefit and

this is why i've been an original co-sponsor of mrs. maloney's legislation since 2000 this bill we're considering today will be a important tool. i want to thank the gentlelady from new

york for her long-standing leadership on this issue. we can bring about its passage today. this will be a giant step forward and for those members who didn't want to make parental leave a mandate

to private employees we can at least set an example here at thexe federal level. this is what this legislation does. thank you. mr. issa: i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore:

the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from illinois. mr. davis: thank you, mr. speaker. it's my pleasure to yield five minutes to one who has been fighting, pushing, planning, organizing,

struggling and working the lead on this issue for more than 10 years and the sponsor of this bill, representative maloney from new york. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady is recognizedor

five minutes. mrs. maloney: i thank my good friend and colleague for that generous introduction and for his strong leadership on this bill and in so many areas. and i rise today in strong support

of h.r. 5781, the federal employees paid parental leave act of 2008. and i'm proud to be the author of this bill and pleased that a democratic majority has brought this bill to the floor.

i particularly want to thank chairman waxman for his laidership on this and in so many ways and also former chairman, ranking member tom davis who has been a lead sponsor on this legislation

since it was first introduced and i thank him deeply and of course subcommittee chair danny davis, i'm pleased to work with you every day on your committee and george miller for their outstanding

support of this bill, they are strong advocates for federal employees and i expect that with their leadership and support, we will pass this bill today to help working families in the federal

government. this bill is very important to me because i very painfully remember when i was pregnant with my first child, i was terrified of being fired. i was working for the new york

state legislature and i called the personnel office to inquire about their parental leave policy and i was told, leave policy? there is none. women just leave. i said, well, i intend to come

back to work because i have to work, what is your leave policy. and they said, we have none, possibly you could apply for disability. and i told her that the birth of a child is not a disability,

it is a joyous event. and i would say to my dear friend and colleague on the opposite side of the aisle that having a child is not a perk. it is important. it is important to the lives of the parents,

it's important to our country. and we should turn our family-flind, family-values rhetoric into a reality of providing some support to working men and women in the federal government. balancing

work and family is a challenge that most parents face and good workplace policy can go a long way toward helping them. we'v come a long way since i was told that women just leave but not

far enough. according to a report from the joint economic committee, 3/4 or 75% of all fortune 100 companies offer parental leave to new mothers with an immediate -- with a median length of

leave between six to eight weeks. these are some of the most successful countries in the country. they should know a little bit about retaining workers. we also reviewed house offices and

senate offices. most house offices, 85%, provide paid leave. senate offices provide 95% of the senate offices provide paid leave. the armed forces provide it also. they are not covered

by the family and medical leave act, but they recognize the importance of providing some paid time and leave for federal workers and for their workers. the federal government has not

kept up withhe changing times and needs to become competitive with the private sector. employees are now entitled to 12 weeks of unpaid leave through the family and medical leave act and

as we have heard time and time again, many families cannot afford to take unpaid leave and are therefore forced to choose between their new child and their paycheck. no one should have to make

that choice. and i would say that it's very difficult for new families, not only does it cost roughly $12 thureks to provide for a new child the first year, day care is not available for

newborns until they are 12 weeks old this puts tremendous pressure on families where most parents have to work. we've heard about ozzy and harriet, ozzy worked, harriet was at home. now 60% of

marriedof women work because they have to and we should be providing them with some help. not only will this legislation help these new families in the federal government but it will help the

federal government with recruitment and retention. turnover is more expensive than providing paid leave. the average cost of turnover is about 20% of an employee's annual salary. four weeks

of paid leave is less than 8% of an employee's salary. this is an important piece of legislation to working men and women. i'd say that providing paid parental leave to federal employees is

a great first step toward providing this benefit to all working americans and it is a critical step toward helping our families. i want to note that senator jim webb and john warner in a bipartisan

effort have introduced a companion bill in the senate and they have many co-sponsors. the bill has a great deal of support because it is the right thing to do. and will demonstrate our commitment

to working families. to those who say we cannot afford to do it, i say we can't afford to not do it. may i have 30 additional seconds to say we need to catch up with the rest of the world.

169 countries already provide some form of paid leave. 169 countries cannot be wrong. it is time for america to show that we value families, that we support families, we need to turn our rhetoric

into the reality of a vote in support of this bill that will move forward with four weeks of paid leave for federal workers. it's the right thing to do. i urge a strong bipartisan vote.

i yield back and i request permission to put in the record the lists of all the staff on the joint economic, my staff, the committee staff, with their titles, they are important, they helped us move

this bill th to the floor today. thank you for all your hard efforts. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. the gentleman from california. mr. issa: thank you, mr. speaker.