Republican presidential nominee Bob Dole Saturday criticized a federal law letting workers take time off to care for a new baby or sick family member as he preached a message of lower taxes and less government in this key state.
Meeting small business people in a "listening to America" event at a tennis equipment company, Dole said he had compassion for families, but called the Family and Medical Leave law unneeded government intrusion.President Clinton, who signed the measure early in his term, has called it one of his proudest achievements and plans to send legislation to Congress to expand the act as well as allow workers to trade overtime for compensatory time to meet family obligations.
Eager to court women voters, Democrats highlighted the law and other "pro-family" initiatives during their national convention in Chicago. Dole has had trouble attracting female voters.
"My view is why should the federal government be getting into family leave? It ought to be left to the employees or the state or the county and the federal government ought to be out of it," Dole said.
"I believe in compassionate leave if there is a birth or a death or there is something that happens in a family . . . but I again wonder about the long arm of the government," he said.
Dole later issued a statement saying he supported an initiative to give workers more flexibility to use their comp time, a separate issue from family leave.
The family leave law allows most workers 12 weeks of unpaid leave a year for family illness, adoption or childbirth. Clinton wants to expand the law to allow workers more time off for family emergencies, but a White House spokesman said it was unlikely the law would pass this year.
"Now once again (Dole's) resisting an idea that's helped 12 million Americans deal with family problems and keep their jobs. Resisting new ideas is no way to move into the 21st century," said Clinton campaign spokesman Joe Lock-hart.
At a rally later Saturday before cheering students at eastern Pennyslvania's University of Scranton, a Jesuit school, Dole criticized Clinton for vetoing legislation to outlaw so-called "partial birth abortions," a rare late-term procedure.
"Whether you're pro-life or pro-choice I think there's one thing most everyone can agree on, partial birth abortion is wrong," Dole said. Congressional Republican leaders will try to override Clinton's veto later this month.