[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 1]
[Senate]
[Pages 875-876]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                     TWENTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF FMLA

  Mr. HARKIN. Mr. President, this week is a milestone for working 
families across America. Twenty years ago this week, President Bill 
Clinton signed into law the Family and Medical Leave Act. There are 
many laws we pass in Washington that most Americans never have reason 
to know or care about. The FMLA, by contrast, has changed this country 
in profoundly important ways.
  It has touched the lives of millions of working families. It is 
almost hard to imagine today, but 20 years ago before this landmark 
law, workers had to risk their jobs and livelihoods when family needs 
arose. There was no national policy for maternity leave or paternity 
leave. New mothers were sometimes compelled to return to work just days 
after giving birth or to quit jobs they would otherwise have liked to 
keep.
  There was no law allowing someone to take leave from work to care for 
an aging, potentially dying parent or to care for a child with a 
serious illness. Families had to leave their loved ones in the hands of 
others or quit their jobs and face dire economic consequences. There 
was no policy to allow a seriously ill worker to return to work after 
recovering from cancer or other serious health condition. All these 
workers risked being fired, having no job to return to, and losing 
their health insurance as well.
  Countless hard-working Americans were forced to make wrenching 
choices between their or their family's health and their economic well-
being.
  The passage of the Family and Medical Leave Act changed all that. It 
has helped new parents bond with their children during those first 
magical few weeks of life. It has helped to give workers struggling 
with a difficult diagnosis the time and security they need to recover. 
It has allowed loving family members to care for relatives with 
disabilities and elderly parents.
  It has ensured that family members of our wounded warriors can be 
there to help their heroes recover. Just as important, it has helped 
countless businesses across the country retain good workers and 
maintain an experienced and dedicated workforce.
  The FMLA has been an unqualified success. It has made a real 
difference in the lives of millions of hard-working Americans. In fact, 
the FMLA has been used more than 100 million times since its passage 20 
years ago.
  To be sure, the legislative path to the Family and Medical Leave Act 
was not easy nor quick. In the Senate, Senator Chris Dodd was the 
tireless champion of the Family and Medical Leave Act. From the time of 
its first introduction in 1986 to its final passage in 1993, we would 
not have the Family and Medical Leave Act without Senator Chris Dodd. 
He held multiple subcommittee hearings across the country, hearing from 
dozens of witnesses. He led the bill through multiple committee markups 
and led the floor fight year after year after year. He worked to 
override two Presidential vetoes and shepherded it to its final passage 
in 1993, after which it became the first law signed by a new President, 
President Bill Clinton.
  Senator Dodd found a partner in Senator Kit Bond from Missouri, whose 
strong interest in shoring up the American family led him to work with 
Senator Dodd on a bipartisan compromise proposal that would garner 
significant political support in both political parties. As Senator 
Bond said upon introducing the final version of the bill in 1993:

       I believe the single most important step we can take to 
     help all families in America is to try to reinstill 
     individual and family responsibility. To do that, we as a 
     society need to make family obligation something we encourage 
     rather than discourage. That is why I believe we should enact 
     the Family and Medical Leave Act.

  Their bipartisan efforts have reaped huge rewards.
  My office has heard from people around the country who have benefited 
from the Family and Medical Leave Act.
  The Family and Medical Leave Act meant that Kimberly Jones of 
Wisconsin was able to help her developmentally challenged son, David, 
during a critical time. After years of struggling socially and in 
school, after a misdiagnosis that led to medications that made him 
worse, David finally received the correct diagnosis of Asperger's 
syndrome, which allowed him to get the right care and the appropriate 
treatment. The FMLA allowed Kim to take 12 weeks off from work so she 
could be with her son, David, to advocate for him, seek out 
professionals, learn how to help him, and support him through 
detoxification from his previous medications.
  Thanks to the FMLA, Kim was able to get David situated and take the 
time to do what was best for him. Kim says parents shouldn't have to 
lose their jobs to do what is best for their children. She adds that 
children and families are in a better place because of the Family and 
Medical Leave Act.
  Tonya Pinkston from Atlanta, GA, was diagnosed with lupus in 2009, 
but she was allowed only 3 sick days a year. As the sole earner in her 
household with her parents and daughter, she absolutely had to keep her 
job. Her boss suggested the Family and Medical Leave Act. Later, when 
her lupus flared, she was able to take leave for 4 weeks to allow her 1 
week in the hospital and recuperation at home.
  Without the Family and Medical Leave Act, Tonya would have been fired 
for missing so much time and she probably would have had to go on 
unemployment insurance. Tonya thanks God for the FMLA and feels 
fortunate that President Bill Clinton signed it and it was there when 
she needed it.
  Right now at a Baltimore hospital, Michelle Marrocco is using FMLA 
leave to care for her son, Brendan, a wounded warrior injured while 
serving in the Army in Iraq in 2009. Brendan is the first surviving 
quadruple amputee and has already faced challenges few of us can 
imagine. In December, he underwent a double-arm transplant. It has been 
widely reported in the news media. Brendan will need years of 
rehabilitation and occupational therapy.
  When Brendan was originally injured, Michelle's employer at the time 
voluntarily paid for 3 months of leave. Michelle's current employer 
adheres to the FMLA, allowing her up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave to 
care for Brendan following his transplants.
  She expects to take 2 months of leave, followed by intermittent leave 
to be with her son once a week. Without the FMLA, Michelle would have 
had to quit her job. With the FMLA, she knows she doesn't have to worry 
about her job, which is a huge relief for her. The lack of income is a 
big concern, but it is something she and her husband will worry about 
later. Thanks to new regulations from the Department of Labor, Michelle 
will be able to take advantage of a new provision of the Family and 
Medical Leave Act, allowing up to 26 weeks of leave for the families of 
veterans injured in the line of duty.
  The Family and Medical Leave Act is one of our Nation's most 
important laws. That is why I will introduce this week a resolution 
honoring the FMLA and the leaders who made the FMLA a reality.
  There are so many. I mentioned those who were here in the Senate; 
there were those in the House who also helped shepherd this through. I 
would mention, of course, Connie Morella, a former Congresswoman who 
was so active in the bill.
  I would mention also George Miller, Congressman George Miller, and 
Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro, who worked so hard to get this passed in 
the House. There were people on the outside, Judy Lichtman, in 1993, 
was the head of something called the Women's Legal Defense Fund. She 
and her colleague Donna Lenhoff played absolutely critical roles in 
getting the FMLA written, introduced, and across the finish line. I 
wanted to mention those heroes who worked so hard for this important 
bill.
  There is still more work to do to ensure that families are fully able 
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[[Page 876]]

meet their family responsibilities as well as maintain economic 
security.
  Today, workers are ineligible to take FMLA for a variety of reasons. 
Some workers do not have enough tenure with their current employer, 
even if they have been in the workforce for years.
  The FMLA requires 1 year of service, but in today's economy, workers 
more frequently change jobs and, of course, family emergencies happen 
without warning. Other workers are not able to accumulate the required 
1,250 hours of work with a single employer in the preceding year. With 
the growth in part-time work, both by choice and by necessity, more 
workers may be ineligible for FMLA even though they are long-term 
dedicated employees. Millions of people work in businesses with fewer 
than 50 employees, which means their employer is not covered by the 
FMLA and does not have to offer that kind of leave.
  This also makes it harder for smaller businesses to recruit the best 
employees because they are not on a level playing field with larger 
companies that must provide leave and where workers have come to expect 
it.
  Still other workers are excluded from the law because of the nature 
of their relationship with a loved one. Workers may only take FMLA to 
care for their minor child, parents or spouses. Under certain 
circumstances, parents may care for their adult child with a 
disability. This excludes siblings, grandchildren and grandparents, 
domestic partners of the same or opposite sex, in-laws, cousins, and 
everyone else.
  That is why the Family and Medical Leave Inclusion Act sponsored by 
Senator Durbin is so important. This bill will expand and modernize the 
definition of family to include many currently excluded relationships. 
Too many workers will otherwise have no one eligible to care for them 
in a time of need or the person they rely on most will not be 
recognized as their family for purposes of the FMLA. This is a 
commonsense change we can and must accomplish.
  One of the most common and critical challenges faced by families is 
the loss of income while taking unpaid FMLA leave. This obliges parents 
to cut short maternity and paternity leave. It forces cancer patients 
to work as much as possible, rather than taking time to fully 
recuperate or, worse, to forgo leave altogether. Still others are 
financially devastated when they have no choice but to take unpaid 
leave.
  We cannot allow family responsibilities to jeopardize families' 
economic security. A social insurance program to provide some wage 
replacement during family and medical leave would allow families to 
maintain their economic security while seeing to their families. 
Research shows this could be done on a universal basis with very small, 
shared contributions by workers and their employers. Two States, New 
Jersey and California, have already implemented such paid leave 
systems, helping families in those States to be financially secure 
during family and medical leave.
  Today is the day to honor the efforts of so many whose work led to 
the passage and signing of the Family and Medical Leave Act 20 years 
ago. This is a time to reflect on how transformative the Family and 
Medical Leave Act has been for our society. It is also time to look 
ahead to additional ways we can support families and allow them to stay 
strong, mutually supportive, and economically secure.
  I look forward to future work to expand and strengthen the 
protections of the Family and Medical Leave Act.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Connecticut.
  Mr. BLUMENTHAL. Mr. President, I wish to thank my colleague Senator 
Harkin for his leadership on the Family and Medical Leave Act, along 
with my predecessor Chris Dodd's very strong dedication to this cause 
and the historic difference he and Senator Harkin have made on a truly 
transformative measure for the United States of America. The Family and 
Medical Leave Act has made a difference in so many lives and shaped so 
many futures for the better in our Nation. I will be honored to join 
his resolution and to support Senator Durbin's Family and Medical Leave 
Inclusion Act and simply offer my thanks to him on behalf of 
Connecticut as well as the country for his leadership on this issue.
  This measure is about human beings and the values that define us and 
make us great as a nation, the greatest Nation in the history of the 
world.

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