[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 34, Number 6 (Monday, February 9, 1998)]
[Page 210]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Statement on the Fifth Anniversary of the Family and Medical Leave Act

February 5, 1998

    On this fifth anniversary of the Family and Medical Leave Act, I am 
happy to report that this law has been good for America's families and 
good for this country's businesses. Before I signed this bill into law, 
the United States was the only industrialized nation without a national 
family and medical leave policy. Workers shouldn't have to choose 
between their families and their jobs when a child is born or a parent 
is sick. This law keeps many workers from having to make that choice.
    Many American families continue to face a serious shortage--a 
shortage of time needed to balance work and family obligations. Over a 
year ago I called upon Congress to expand the Family and Medical Leave 
Act to allow 24 additional hours of leave each year so that parents can 
participate in children's activities or so that family members may take 
children or elderly relatives to medical or dental appointments or for 
other professional services. This law deserves support and expansion so 
it can continue to work for American workers, their families, and their 
employers.