The Nation - News from May 15, 1988

Boosting so-called “family legislation,” a rally near the Washington Monument attracted about 3,000 people, many of them toddlers and infants in strollers and their parents. Bills pending in Congress would require businesses to give unpaid leave to workers with a newborn, newly adopted or seriously ill child and provide home health care for the chronically ill. The parental and medical leave legislation is opposed by many business groups, which object to federally mandated workplace benefits. “This Administration does not understand this message, for they are out of touch with the needs of everyday working Americans,” Rep. Tony Coelho (D-Merced), the House majority whip, told the crowd.