Speeches by Secretary Elaine L. Chao

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Remarks Prepared for Delivery by
U.S. Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao
Women Impacting Public Policy Annual Meeting
National Press Club
Washington, D.C.
Tuesday, September 16, 2003

Thank you, Terry [Neese, President of WIPP].

You’ve done a great job as President and CEO of WIPP.We’re delighted to have WIPP as a partner in the Labor Department’s one-stop shopping portal for women entrepreneurs, www.women-21.gov.

It’s great to be here today!

I want to start by letting you know the Labor Department has the highest number of women in top leadership positions of any cabinet department in the history of our country—fully half!

We have seven women who were appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate heading up agencies at the Department of Labor:

• Ann Combs, who spoke to you yesterday, is in charge of regulating nearly every private pension plan in America.
• Vicky Lipnic, our Assistant Secretary for Employment Standards, has one of the most extensive regulatory portfolios in government—covering everything from fairness in contracting to wages and hours worked.
• Tammy McCutcheon, our Wage Hour Administrator, is spearheading a valiant effort to reform labor laws that haven’t been modernized in 50 years.
• Emily Stover DeRocco is head of the Employment Training Administration, which spends most of the Labor Department’s $72.6 billion budget.
• And of course, Shinea Chun directs the Women’s Bureau, which is one of the oldest advocacy agencies for women in the workplace.
• Kathleen Utgoff is head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which tracks employment throughout the United States.
• And the person who directs our relations with Congress, which can be a really tough assignment—is Assistant Secretary Kris Iverson.

As you can tell, I’m very proud of this team.

This President, this Administration and this team recognize that women entrepreneurs are a force to be reckoned with in our economy.We are committed to helping you access new opportunities, grow your businesses and create more jobs.

That’s why the President’s jobs and growth plan included so many features designed to help small businesses like yours.The President heard you, loud and clear, when you asked for an expanded equipment expense allowance for tax reduction and for more investment capital to grow your businesses and create new jobs.

And we heard you loud and clear when you identified rising health care costs as one of the culprits preventing you from keeping talented employees.

The rising cost of health insurance has hit many employers and working families hard.But nowhere is this more apparent than for America’s small businesses.That’s why this Administration has made AHPs a top priority and I have traveled all over the United States talking about this issue.

As you know, AHPs would allow small-businesses to band together nationally, pool your resources and purchase health insurance at more affordable rates.Studies show that AHPs could save subscribers as much as 25 percent on health insurance costs and help as many as eight million uninsured Americans obtain coverage.

AHPs would reduce many of the barriers that currently prevent small businesses from offering health insurance, while ensuring that consumer protections are strongly enforced.

In June, the U.S. House of Representatives passed legislation that would create Association Health Plans.The President has been a strong supporter of AHPs—even before he took office.The last piece left to fall in place is final Congressional action so that millions of small businesses can enjoy the same access of affordable, quality health insurance that large companies and labor unions have.

We share your belief that Association Health Plans are crucial to the future of small business in America and I look forward to working with you to make this concept a reality.

You can count on this Administration to find other ways to help women entrepreneurs succeed.

When I first came to the Department of Labor, my team discovered what many of you have probably suspected—that many government grants and contracts were being awarded to the same groups, year after year, with little or no competition.

Well, that has come to an end at the Labor Department!

We have replaced business-as-usual with a new approach: competition. We’re opening up our competitive bidding process, when allowed by statute.We want traditionally underserved groups to have a fair shot at getting a piece of the government’s business.

I’m proud of the fact that the Labor Department has surpassed the Congressional mandate and last year awarded 5.14% of its $1.64 billion procurement dollars to women-owned small businesses.That’s $84 million in new contracting opportunities for women-owned small businesses. You can learn about these opportunities by contacting the Labor Department’s Office of Small Business Programs through our women-21.gov website.

And I’m also pleased to report that DOL does not bundle procurements.Last December we established a new procedure in advance of the federal regulations on bundling to prevent it from happening in the first place.We are committed to ensuring that your businesses can have a level playing field to compete for these opportunities.

We know that, as small and medium size business owners, you often have to do everything yourselves.You don’t have the time or the money to hire a battery of lawyers to help you navigate the confusing maze of more than 180 employment laws.

So we’ve ramped up our compliance assistance program at the Labor Department with a new interactive, web-based tool—the FirstStep E-laws Advisor.By clicking onto this tool at www.dol.gov/elaws and answering a few questions, you can determine which of our major laws apply to you and how to comply with them.Most small business owners, like yourselves, tell us they want to do the right thing—if only someone would tell you what it is!We’ve brought along a stack of our E-Laws Advisor pamphlets that you can pick up at the end of this session.

This common sense approach is at the heart of many of the things we’re doing at the Labor Department.

I’ve launched an aggressive campaign to modernize outdated employment laws so that they reflect the realities of the 21^st century economy.

The laws and regulations governing the white-collar exemptions to overtime are a perfect example.Recently, we proposed the first major changes to these regulations in more than 50 years.They were written in the first half of the 20^th century and have changed little since. As you can imagine, they are seriously outdated.

They describe a workplace populated by “straw bosses,” keypunch operators and “legmen”—all jobs that no longer exist in our service-oriented economy.

These regulations—technically known as part 541 of the Fair Labor Standards Act—are so confusing and unclear that it’s easy to make honest mistakes when trying to apply them.Even large corporations, which can afford to hire the best legal talent, often spend years in litigation over this issue.In fact, class action law suits regarding overtime now outnumber class-action discrimination lawsuits in the workplace.

It’s important for you to understand this issue because if you employ two or more workers and have revenues in excess of $500,000—OR regardless of your business size if you have employees that participate in interstate commerce activities—then you must follow the overtime laws.

Our proposed changes would update and clarify the white-collar overtime regulations so that they are easy to understand and apply.Employers would know their responsibilities and employees could get their overtime immediately, without having to hire lawyers and go to court.

Unfortunately, these much-needed reforms are being portrayed as harmful to workers by a massive misinformation campaign—including television attack ads—funded by advocacy groups.

So far, there have been 2 votes in the Congress on amendments that would have blocked our reforms.We prevailed in the House but lost in the Senate.But the story is not over yet—we will continue to fight for these important reforms in the weeks and months ahead.

As women business leaders, you are vital to our nation’s economic growth and security.Our country needs your energy, your initiative and your enthusiasm.As women entrepreneurs and the owners of small and medium sized businesses, you are the engine that drives job growth in our economy.That’s why we need to hear your needs and concerns, so we can serve you better and ensure that every American who wants to work can find a job.

Another opportunity to listen to your concerns will take place next week, when the Labor Department co-sponsors the 4^th in a series of women’s entrepreneurship summits in Tampa, Florida.I want to thank your organization for working with Karen Czarnecki, the Director of the Office of the 21^st Century Workforce, on the details of this summit.And I hope that your members from the Tampa Bay area will be able to join us for this great event.

So thank you for inviting me here today.And thank you for everything you are doing to help make the American dream come true for so many people.

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