III 

113TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. RES. 139 

Celebrating the 20th anniversary of the Family and Medical Leave Act of 

1993. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MAY 13, 2013 

Mr. HARKIN (for himself, Ms. MIKULSKI, Mrs. MURRAY, Mr. SANDERS, Mr. 

CASEY, Mr. FRANKEN, Mr. WHITEHOUSE, Mr. MURPHY, Ms. WARREN, 

Mr. BAUCUS, Mr. LEVIN, Mrs. BOXER, Mr. DURBIN, Mr. REED, Mr. 

SCHUMER, Mr. LAUTENBERG, Mr. MENENDEZ, Mr. CARDIN, Mr. 

BROWN, Mr. TESTER, Mrs. SHAHEEN, Mrs. GILLIBRAND, Mr. COONS, 

Mr. BLUMENTHAL, and Ms. HEITKAMP) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, 

and Pensions 

RESOLUTION 

Celebrating the 20th anniversary of the Family and Medical 

Leave Act of 1993. 

Whereas February 5, 2013, marks the 20th anniversary of 

the enactment of the Family and Medical Leave Act of 

1993 (29 U.S.C. 2611 et seq.), which was signed by 

President Bill Clinton; 

Whereas the Family and Medical Leave Act is a landmark 

law, and the first significant law to address the need of 

families to balance work with family and health responsibilities; 


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•SRES 139 IS 

Whereas prior to the passage of the Family and Medical 

Leave Act, employees often did not have access to leave 

from work, or feared losing their jobs if they took leave, 

when the employee or an immediate family member faced 

a serious health condition, or when recovering from giving birth or bonding with a new child; 

Whereas prior to the passage of the Family and Medical 

Leave Act, women often faced employment discrimination 

based on caregiving responsibilities and men often faced 

discrimination in accessing family leave; 

Whereas the responsibility to care for seriously ill family 

members and to bond with a newborn or newly adopted 

child is recognized, respected, and expected throughout 

the United States; 

Whereas Congress worked in a bipartisan manner to craft the 

Family and Medical Leave Act; 

Whereas the Family and Medical Leave Act was the culmination of years of hard work and is a lasting legacy for 

Senators Chris Dodd and Kit Bond and Representatives 

Pat Schroeder and Marge Roukema, among many others; 

Whereas the purposes of the Family and Medical Leave Act 

are— 

(1) to balance the demands of the workplace with 

the needs of families; 

(2) to promote the stability and economic security of 

families; 

(3) to promote national interests in preserving family integrity; 

(4) to entitle employees to take reasonable leave for 

medical reasons, the birth or adoption of a child, and the 


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•SRES 139 IS 

care of a child, spouse, or parent with a serious health 

condition; 

(5) to accomplish the purposes described in paragraphs (1) through (4) in a manner that accommodates 

the legitimate interests of employers and minimizes the 

potential for employment discrimination on the basis of 

sex; and 

(6) to promote the goal of equal employment opportunity for women and men; 

Whereas the Family and Medical Leave Act allows an employee to take up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave to bond 

with a newborn or newly adopted child, to care for a 

child, spouse, or parent with a serious health condition, 

and to tend to a serious health condition of the employee; 

Whereas the Family and Medical Leave Act benefits newborn 

or newly adopted children by creating strong family 

bonds, allowing families time to make arrangements for 

future caregiving, and promoting the establishment of 

healthy practices such as breastfeeding; 

Whereas the Family and Medical Leave Act provides job security and peace of mind for individuals and families 

struggling with a difficult diagnosis or other serious 

health condition; 

Whereas the Family and Medical Leave Act allows individuals 

to provide care for family members directly, strengthening families and benefitting society by reducing costs to 

taxpayer-funded programs; 

Whereas Congress recognized the unique family needs of military families and acted with bipartisan support in enacting the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal 

Year 2008 (Public Law 110–181; 122 Stat. 3) and the 


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•SRES 139 IS 

National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2010 

(Public Law 111–84; 123 Stat. 2190) to expand the protections of the Family and Medical Leave Act to meet the 

needs of military families; 

Whereas the Family and Medical Leave Act allows leave to 

deal with qualifying exigencies arising from the deployment of a family member to covered active duty in the 

United States Armed Forces; 

Whereas the Family and Medical Leave Act provides up to 

26 weeks of leave to care for a member of the Armed 

Forces or recent veteran who was seriously injured or became seriously ill because of active duty in the United 

States Armed Forces; 

Whereas the Family and Medical Leave Act helps the United 

States to fulfill the responsibility to support military families and care for wounded warriors; and 

Whereas the Family and Medical Leave Act has been invoked 

more than 100,000,000 times, allowing millions of families to attend to both work and family responsibilities: 

Now, therefore, be it 

1 Resolved, That the Senate— 

2 (1) recognizes and honors the 20th anniversary 

3 of the enactment of the Family and Medical Leave 

4 Act of 1993 (29 U.S.C. 2611 et seq.); 

5 (2) salutes all of the individuals who contrib6 uted to the enactment of the Family and Medical 

7 Leave Act; 

8 (3) encourages all individuals in the United 

9 States to celebrate the advance of workplace protecVerDate Mar 15 2010 22:40 May 13, 2013 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\SR139.IS SR139

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•SRES 139 IS 

1 tions and opportunities made possible by the enact2 ment of the Family and Medical Leave Act; and 

3 (4) pledges to continue to work on a bipartisan 

4 basis to ensure that all individuals in the United 

5 States are able to balance work and family respon6 sibilities. 

Æ 


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