The Congressional Record is a unique source of public documentation. It started in 1873, documenting nearly all the major and minor policies being discussed and debated.
“SMALL BUSINESS JOB PROTECTION ACT OF 1996--CONFERENCE REPORT” mentioning the U.S. Dept of Labor was published in the Senate section on pages S9527-S9528 on Aug. 2, 1996.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
SMALL BUSINESS JOB PROTECTION ACT OF 1996--CONFERENCE REPORT
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the clerk will report the conference report to accompany H.R. 3448.
The assistant legislative clerk read as follows:
The committee of conference on the disagreeing votes of the two Houses on the amendments of the Senate to the bill H.R. 3448 to provide tax relief for small businesses, to protect jobs, to create opportunities, to increase the take-home pay of workers, to amend the Portal-to-Portal Act of 1947 relating to the payment of wages to employees who use employer-owned vehicles, and to amend the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 to increase the minimum wage rate and to prevent job loss by providing flexibility to employers in complying with minimum wage and overtime requirements under that Act, having met, after full and free conference, have agreed to recommend and do recommend to their respective Houses this report, signed by a majority of the conferees.
(The conference report is printed in the House proceedings of the Record of August 1, 1996.)
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The question is on agreeing to the adoption of the conference report. The yeas and nays have been ordered. The clerk will call the roll.
The legislative clerk called the roll.
Mr. FORD. I announce that the Senator from Washington [Mrs. Murray] and the Senator from Arkansas [Mr. Pryor], are necessarily absent.
The result was announced--yeas 76, nays 22, as follows:
YEAS--76
AbrahamAkakaBaucusBennettBidenBingamanBoxerBradleyBreauxBryanBumpersByrdCampbellChafeeCohenConradD'AmatoDaschleDeWineDoddDomeniciDorganExonFeingoldFeinsteinFordFristGlennGortonGrahamGramsGrassleyGreggHarkinHatchHatfieldHeflinHollingsInouyeJeffordsJohnstonKassebaumKennedyKerreyKerryKohlLautenbergLeahyLevinLiebermanMcCainMcConnellMikulskiMoseley-BraunMoynihanMurkowskiNunnPellPresslerReidRobbRockefellerRothSantorumSarbanesShelbySimonSimpsonSnoweSpecterStevensThompsonThurmondWarnerWellstoneWyden
NAYS--22
AshcroftBondBrownBurnsCoatsCochranCoverdellCraigFairclothFrahmGrammHelmsHutchisonInhofeKempthorneKylLottLugarMackNicklesSmithThomas
NOT VOTING--2
MurrayPryor
The conference report was agreed to.
Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, I move to reconsider the vote by which the conference report was agreed to.
Mr. NICKLES. I move to lay that motion on the table.
The motion to lay on the table was agreed to.
Mr. FORD. Will the Senator yield to me?
Mr. KENNEDY. Can I ask for order, Mr. President?
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senate will come to order. Will Senators remove audible conversations to the Cloakroom?
The Chair recognizes the Senator from Massachusetts.
Mr. FORD. Mr. President, will the Senator yield me 10 seconds?
Mr. KENNEDY. I yield.
Explanation of Absence
Mr. FORD. Mr. President, I would like for the record to reflect that our good friend and colleague, David Pryor, has missed votes yesterday and today because of the death in his family of his father-in-law and the funeral today. I want the record to reflect that because it was not official business.
I thank the Chair.
Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, in the last half hour, we have experienced a double-header victory for the American people: health care and a raise in the minimum wage. In a sense, both these bills had nine lives, and they needed all of them. But they have come to a successful resolution this evening and, hopefully, they will be on the President's desk in the very near future.
I would like to just take a moment--I know others want to address the Senate and we still have time for discussion on these two measures--but I do want to at this time express my very, very strong personal appreciation for the support, the assistance, and the help of our leader, Senator Daschle, for his leadership throughout the process on both of these pieces of legislation, as well as so much other legislation.
I pay tribute, as I did earlier, to Senator Kassebaum for sponsoring the legislation and for all that she has done to move it forward.
To Senator Harkin for his work on the genetic information, the fraud and abuse provisions. He has been tireless in both of these areas, as well as many others.
Senator Wellstone's work on domestic violence, the mental health issues has been enormously important, and although we did not achieve them in this legislation, I think all of us have an understanding we are going to revisit those issues in September, and I look forward to joining with Senator Wellstone, Senator Domenici and others for, hopefully, an important downpayment on that issue to try and reflect what is the reality, and that is a mental illness should be treated just like every other illness in our health care system.
To Senator Simon for his work on the privacy issues.
To Senator Mikulski and Senator Dodd who were extremely active and involved in the markup and are always involved, Senator Dodd particularly, on children's issues and Senator Mikulski on the impact of this legislation and also the minimum wage legislation on women in our society.
To Senator Breaux for his help in making the compromise possible.
And to all the others who helped.
I also thank all of my staff who worked so tirelessly: David Nexon who has done such an extraordinary job over many years and has devoted the better part of his life to trying to improve quality health for American people. I think all of us at this time are mindful of the extraordinary quality of individuals on our staff who really make such an enormous difference in the legislative achievements and for changes in policy.
Carey Parker; Nick Littlefield, our overall staff director for his tirelessness in both of these endeavors; Lauren Ewers, who has been a key member of our health staff; Jim Manley; Dennis Kelleher, Sue Castleberry, April Savoy, Brian Moran.
I, too, want to thank Dean Rosen and Susan Hattan of Senator Kassebaum's staff.
I think we have been fortunate on our committee to have Republican and Democratic staff. There have been extremely important and cooperative, and have high talent on both sides of the aisle. Senator Moynihan's staff, Laird Burnett and Jon Talisman, have been enormously helpful.
Finally, I also thank Minority Leader Gephardt in the House of Representatives for his strong support and advocacy in working with all of our friends and Members of our party.
Congressman Dingell, Congressman Waxman and the others in the House who participated in the conference committee. I am grateful to all of them.
With respect to the minimum wage, this uphill effort against the odds could not have succeeded without the leadership and support of Secretary of Labor Bob Reich and the contributions of his Department. Many people there lent us their expertise, but let me single out Assistant Secretary Geri Palast, Chief Economist Lisa Lynch, John Fraser at the Wage and Hour Administration, and Seth Harris at the Office of Policy.
Many organizations made a difference in this effort, but I want especially to thank the U.S. Catholic Conference, the Women's Legal Defense Fund, the Mon Valley Unemployed Council, and the Business and Professional Women USA for all of their help. As always, the AFL-CIO and its unions worked very hard for this legislation, even though very few union members earn wages low enough to be affected by this increase. They did so because they honor work and care about the well-being of every American--not just their members. Chris Owens worked with all of these groups to help educate the public and the Congress.
Finally, on my own staff, Sarah Fox devoted her phenomenal energy to this bill for a year before leaving to join the National Labor Relations Board. And Ross Eisenbrey, a congressional fellow detailed from the Department of Labor, worked very hard over the last 16 months to help us accomplish this 22 percent pay increase for millions of Americans.
I thank the majority leader for his help and assistance and courtesy on these issues, as on others.
Mr. President, I yield the floor.
Several Senators addressed the Chair.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from South Carolina.
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