Family Leave

Washington -- This is a story about high-stakes politics and whether the federal government can help everyday Americans -- and about a little girl who touched the president and then went home to die.Melissa Weaver lives on in the speeches of President Clinton, who mentions her when he wants to show people that government can make a difference in their lives. His signature on a single bill made it possible for Melissa to get her dying wish.The story has two trails. Both start in Houston, but they enanywhere in America where there are voters.

A full family leave is too costly for manyThe family leave law that takes effect this summer is a great idea, many workers and managers say. But few are likely to take full advantage of the offer of a 12-week unpaid leave of absence for a family emergency.Cindy Spearman, employment recruiter for the Radisson Plaza Lord Baltimore hotel, likes the new law because it gives workers like her an opportunity to take some time off during crises. "Life is not all rosy," she said.But she probably won't take full advantage of the law because she can't afford to go three months without a paycheck.

The policy that allowed convicted cop killer Samuel Veney to leave prison for weekend family visits is under review and some changes may be proposed, the state's chief public safety official said yesterday."

TCFamily Leave Law: Legislating CompassionWinston Churchill said: "A young man in his twenties who isn't a liberal has no heart; that same man in his forties who isn't a conservative, has no head." That's my perspective regarding the Family Leave Act just signed by President Clinton. This law forces businesses with 50 or more employees to allow up to 12 weeks' unpaid maternity leave. This law will end up hurting the very ones it seeks to help -- young women who work.Why do the liberals always chide conservatives by saying, "You can't legislate morality," and then turn around and try to legislate compassion?

Boston -- Some things take longer than others. This time, it took eight years to get 12 weeks.After all the seasons of wrangling and rewriting, voting and vetoing, the Family and Medical Leave Act is finally, actually and belatedly going to become law. You may share this news with any children conceived the same year as this bill -- 1985 -- before they head off to their third-grade class.American workers may be about the last in the industrialized world to get family leave, but we're going to get it. Or at least many of us are.The bill mandates up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave for workers to care for a newborn or adopted child, or a critically ill family member . . . if.If they work for companies with 50 or more employees.

Rep. Roscoe G. Bartlett opened his Carroll office in Westminster Friday and told residents he opposes family leave and gays in the military.The freshman Republican from Frederick said his experience in Washington has been "very interesting" so far, but, "It would be more rewarding if we could be of more help to Americans."About 30 people, including about half a dozen Republicanpoliticians,attended the opening of Mr. Bartlett's office in Suite 110 of the Winchester Exchange building at 15 E. Main St.Mr.

WASHINGTON -- When the federal government regulates business, the message often seems to be: Do as we say, not as we do.But under the proposed Family and Medical Leave Act, the government would give its workers the same benefits that employers in the rest of the country would give theirs.The bill, as approved by House and Senate committees last week, would give each federal employee up to 12 weeks a year of unpaid leave to care for a newborn or newly adopted child. Federal workers also would be able to take time off to care for a sick child, spouse or parent, or to recuperate from an illness.

WASHINGTON -- Congressional passage of the family and medical leave bill, expected to be an early sign that the logjam of the past legislative session had been broken, has run into turbulence. The problem: controversy over proposals to open the military to homosexuals.Democrats had hoped to rush the family leave bill through Congress and place it on President Clinton's desk this week as a sign that the Democratic-controlled Congress was ready to work with the new Democratic president.But a snag emerged yesterday when Republican opponents of allowing homosexuals in the armed forces said they wanted the gays-in-the-military issue put to a Senate vote.

Sen. Nancy Kassebaum, R-Kan., remarked the other day that she often feels like "the skunk at the picnic" for opposing the family-leave bill President Clinton and his Democratic friends are about to whoop into law. If it makes Senator Kassebaum feel any better, she has company in her skunkhood. This newspaper opposed the measure before and we oppose it again.What, pray tell, could be wrong with a proposal that purports to help families by guaranteeing to 60 percent of all American employees that they can take 12 weeks of unpaid leave to care for a new baby or the illness of a close relative?

You might think Susan Smith is the kind of executive who would be the most worried about Congress' rush to pass a family leave law. You would be wrong."