Rep. Woolsey “Is This Any Way to Treat Our Mothers”

A liberal California congresswoman–who once worked in the human resources field–yesterday argued for a sweeping expansion of the U.S. laws covering family leave, child care and benefits for part-timers.

At a May 5 press conference on Capitol Hill and in statements released by her public-relations office, Woolsey said that her bill, H.R. 3780, is necessary to “help working mothers balance work and family life by improving access to safe and affordable child care, and providing paid leave.” Woolsey tore into the Bush Administration–asking “Is this any way to treat our mothers?”–for providing “tax cuts to the wealthy” while at the same time cutting child-care funds and other programs for working mothers.

Among other provisions, the legislation would give subsidies to businesses to help them establish on-site child-care centers.  It also gives businesses incentives to offer paid leave to employees who need to be home with a sick child. Companies would have to extend some of their benefits to part-time and temporary employees.

Rep. Woolsey’s life story–told briefly on this site–included a stint as a welfare recipient and a job as a human resources manager. Eventually, Woolsey owned her own firm, offering human resources services to California companies.