BIDEN Honored for Making a Difference for Working Families
Working Mother Media and Corporate Voices for Working Families Honor Senator Biden with the Best of Congress Award
August 12, 2008
Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Joseph R. Biden, Jr. (D-DE) has been honored by Working Mother Media and Corporate Voices for Working Families with the Best of Congress award, for improving the American quality of life through family-friendly work policies. The award spotlights Senator Biden’s congressional leadership in supporting working families through legislation and for employing family-friendly policies in his own office. A profile of Sen. Biden is featured in the August/September 2008 issue of Working Mother magazine, which hits newsstands today, and at www.workingmother.com.
“As a parent and grandparent, I understand the challenges facing American families,” said Sen. Biden. “We need to focus on lifting up – not wearing down – American families.”
For this inaugural award, Sen. Biden was judged on his voting record, sponsored and co-sponsored legislation and his efforts to promote legislation that supports working families. Sen. Biden has long supported initiatives like paid family leave to give Americans the flexibility they need to both take care of their families and remain working. He continues to fight for a higher minimum wage and to end pay inequality. An “A-Plus Education Advocate,” Sen. Biden has supported proposals to help states provide full-day prekindergarten, championed legislation to reduce class sizes, particularly in the early grades, and offered an innovative pilot program to make college more affordable. Sen. Biden’s work in the 110th Congress also includes fighting for children’s health insurance, leveling the playing field between workers and employers and promoting women’s healthcare.
“Not only did we judge Senator Biden on his voting records for supporting working families, we also examined the benefits that his own employees receive like paid leave and flextime,” said Carol Evans, CEO, Working Mother Media. “Senator Biden is stepping up voluntarily because he believes in progressive policies and acts on his beliefs in the real world managing his staff.”
“Senator Biden has shown what can be accomplished through legislation and a personal commitment to policies that benefit working families,” said Donna Klein, president and founder of Corporate Voices for Working Families. “As our nation wrestles with a host of economic and other issues involving working families, Senator Biden deserves to be congratulated and recognized nationally for his leadership and support.”
Working Mother Magazine has been in the forefront of the movement to improve the quality of life for working families for three decades and annually honors the 100 best companies whose policies create family-friendly workplaces (www.workingmother.com). Corporate Voices for Working Families is the leading national business membership organization representing the private sector on public policy issues involving working families (www.cvworkingfamilies.org).
