WASHINGTON – Three decades after Bill Clinton signed the nation’s Family and Medical Leave Act into law, he was back at the White House on Thursday to speak about what it means for the country and to unveil his trademark mix of storytelling and weirdo.
The 42nd president, who has now been out of office for more than two decades, initially looked a little rusty as he fumbled through the papers on the lectern to find his remarks. But then he found his stride and was soon dropping names, citing statistics and spinning yarns about the families whose lives were affected by the law.
“We need more stories,” he explained. “Don’t process. stories.”
Speaking just days before the 30th anniversary of his landmark Family and Medical Leave Act on Sunday, Clinton pleaded that Congress stand behind President Joe Biden’s push to go further and include paid leave in federal law.
The law, signed by Clinton, guaranteed many American workers up to 12 unpaid weeks of vacation time to recover from a serious illness or childbirth or to care for sick family members, one of the greatest legislative achievements of his eight-year tenure. But Clinton, who signed the law into law just two weeks into his presidency, said it was time to go further and give US workers paid leave to look after a new child or look after loved ones.
“There are still many problems that cannot be solved without some form of paid leave,” Clinton said.
Clinton paid tribute to former Senator Chris Dodd, the Connecticut Democrat who had pushed for the legislation for years. He paraphrased German sociologist Max Weber, who called “politics the hard and slow drilling of hardboard,” as he expressed awe at lawmakers enforcing the legislation, many of whom attended Thursday’s event.
“After all these years, more people still mention the Family Leave Act than any other specific thing I’ve done,” Clinton said.
biden championed but failed to gain support for paid leave for workers in 2021. On Thursday, he signed a memorandum calling on federal agency heads to support access to unpaid family and medical leave for federal employees in their first year of employment. Employees are not legally entitled to unpaid leave until they have been employed for a year.
The President also directs the Office of Human Resources to make recommendations to develop policies to allow workers to receive paid and unpaid leave to seek safety or to recover from domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault or stalking. Such situations are not covered by the Family Leave Act.
Early 2021, Biden proposed to greatly expand the Family Leave Act, which gives workers up to 12 weeks of paid parental, family and sick leave and ensures workers get three days of bereavement leave per year as part of a massive $3.5 trillion social spending plan.
His plan was to provide workers with up to $4,000 a month, replacing at least two-thirds of the average weekly wage. The White House estimated the program would cost more than $225 billion over a decade.
Paid family leave did not come into play the slimmed-down climate and health law that Biden signed the law into law in August.
Biden said Thursday he’s not giving up on winning paid leave.
“No American should ever have to choose between a paycheck and caring for a family member or caring for themselves,” said Biden, noting that the United States is one of the few developed nations that does not grant any form of paid leave to workers.
An enthusiastic welcome from veteran lawmakers and White House staffers, Clinton recalled stories about the tremendous impact the Family Leave Act had on Americans.
He said that on a flight shortly after leaving office in 2001, he was approached by a flight attendant who told him she was ambivalent about his tenure, but wanted him to know that the law applied to her family from was crucial as both her parents were confronted with end-of-life diseases at the same time. She said she could not have been there for her parents at the end of her life if it hadn’t been for the job protections provided by the legislation, he recalled.
“I just wanted to tell you, I’ve heard all of these politicians give speeches about family values,” Clinton said the woman told him. He added, “She said, ‘I know … how your parents die is an important family value.’ It was breathtaking.”
A group of Democratic lawmakers announced Wednesday that they would reintroduce legislation introducing paid family leave and other legislative changes.
But passing legislation establishing a paid leave program will be a steep climb for Biden now that Republicans have control of the House of Representatives. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, DN.Y., who has been pushing for an update to the federal law, said she has engaged Republican lawmakers on the matter.
“We’re going to find out what common ground there is in both the House and Senate and see if there’s a level of paid leave that can be achieved with the Republican House,” she said. “I am optimistic that together we can achieve something. I just don’t know what it is yet.”
The current federal furlough law does not apply to a large portion of the US workforce.
About 44% of workers are not eligible for FMLA-supported leave because they work for small employers who are exempt from the law, do not work enough hours or have not worked long enough for their employer to be eligible, or both the National Partnership for Women & Families, a group campaigning to update the law. According to the group, nearly 15 million workers will use FMLA by 2022.
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