{"database": "openregs", "table": "congressional_record", "rows": [["CREC-1996-10-21-pt1-PgS12422-2", "1996-10-21", 104, 2, null, null, "IMPORTANT WORK ON BEHALF OF WORKING PEOPLE DONE BY LABOR COMMITTEE DURING MY TENURE", "SENATE", "SENATE", "ALLOTHER", "S12422", "S12422", "[{\"name\": \"Claiborne Pell\", \"role\": \"speaking\"}]", null, "142 Cong. Rec. S12422", "Congressional Record, Volume 142 Issue 143 (Monday, October 21, 1996)\n\n[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 143 (Monday, October 21, 1996)]\n[Senate]\n[Page S12422]\nFrom the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]\n\n  IMPORTANT WORK ON BEHALF OF WORKING PEOPLE DONE BY LABOR COMMITTEE\n                            DURING MY TENURE\n\n Mr. PELL. Mr. President, upon joining the U.S. Senate in\nJanuary 1961, I became a member of the Senate Labor and Public Welfare\nCommittee--now called the Labor and Human Resources Committee.\n  From the beginning of my career-long tenure on the committee until\ntoday, I have had the distinct honor of serving with and learning from\nsome giants of the Senate and have had the pleasure of working on many\nimportant pieces of legislation.\n  When I first joined the committee on January 1961--which, according\nto the Official Congressional Directory for the 87th Congress, met on\nthe second and forth Thursdays of each month--membership of the\ncommittee included Ralph Yarborough of Texas, the great Jennings\nRandolph of West Virginia, Barry Goldwater, Everett Dirksen and my old,\ndear friend Jacob Javits. The following year, John Tower joined the\ncommittee.\n  In 1963, our current ranking member Ted Kennedy first came to the\ncommittee. Few can question the wonderful work Senator Kennedy has done\nfor America from his post on the committee.\n  In the years following, many outstanding members of this body joined\nthe committee and shared their skills and insights with us. Along with\nthose I have already referred to, I have had the pleasure of working\nwith many whose names are well known to this day: Robert F. Kennedy,\nWalter Mondale, Tom Eagleton, Alan Cranston, Richard Schweicker, my\npartner for many years on Education matters Robert Stafford, Orrin\nHatch, Howard Metzenbaum, Strom Thurmond and our current Chair, the\nmost gracious Nancy Kassebaum. I do not believe our committee has ever\nbeen led by a more evenhanded Chair.\n  I think it is a tribute to the committee and the importance of its\njurisdiction that some of the greatest Senators of our time decided to\nsit on the committee.\n  During my tenure on the Labor Committee, the committee has worked on\nmany important issues in the areas of health, education, and labor\nincluding many directly affecting the working men and women of this\ncountry.\n  A brief review of the achievements of the Senate Labor and Human\nResources Committee shows that during the past 36 years, we have worked\nto create and improve laws of great import to the working people of\nthis Nation.\n  The Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 established broad\nminimum standards for the conditions under which American workers work.\n  The Equal Employment Opportunity Act of 1972 gave the Equal\nEmployment and Opportunity Commission much needed teeth to curb\nworkplace discrimination.\n  In 1974, unemployment compensation was extended to 12 million\npreviously uncovered Americans.\n  After five years of committee hearings and study, the Employee\nRetirement Income Security Act [ERISA] was enacted that guaranteed that\npension plan participants would receive their promised benefits even if\nthe pension fund was terminated.\n  The Age Discrimination in Employment Act prohibited workplace\ndiscrimination for workers between 40 and 67 years of age.\n  When I joined the committee in 1961, the Federal minimum wage was $1.\nThat minimum was increased over the years and thanks to the efforts of\nmany on this committee, minimum wage workers in the United States will\nbe receiving a much needed raise to $5.15 over the next 2 years.\n  Many job retraining programs have been established to help workers\nwho have lost their jobs through no fault of their own. During the\n104th Congress, the committee spent a great deal of time trying to\nunify the Federal programs into one single program better suited for\nthe demands of today's workplace. Unfortunately, those efforts ended in\nfailure.\n  In 1988, legislation passed by this committee to require advance\nnotification to workers of plant closings and large scale layoffs\nbecame law.\n  In 1986, certain protections of the Fair Labor Standards Act were\nextended to disabled individuals.\n  The above is but a thumbnail outline of the important work in the\narea of labor and employment done by the Labor Committee during the\npast 36 years. I am pleased to have been involved in such important\nwork with a fine group of colleagues--both well-known and\nunsung.\n\n                          ____________________"]], "columns": ["granule_id", "date", "congress", "session", "volume", "issue", "title", "chamber", "granule_class", "sub_granule_class", "page_start", "page_end", "speakers", "bills", "citation", "full_text"], "primary_keys": ["granule_id"], "primary_key_values": ["CREC-1996-10-21-pt1-PgS12422-2"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 6.4085430931299925, "source": "Federal Register API & Regulations.gov API", "source_url": "https://www.federalregister.gov/developers/api/v1", "license": "Public Domain (U.S. Government data)", "license_url": "https://www.regulations.gov/faq"}