Hillary Clinton's Resume Padding re: The Family and Medical Leave Act

[FunkyLeprechaun]

I saw this over at Daily Kos, (link http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/3/9/111930/6389/50/472849)

It's regarding the Family and Medical Leave Act (passed February 5, 1993). On her website she says :

As First Lady, she helped pass the Family and Medical Leave Act

(link http://www.hillaryclinton.com/issues/women/)

Why is she taking credit for something which passed just over two weeks after her husband became president? (Note, the author of FMLA is Chris Dodd, who has since endorsed Obama)

If you look on the DKos link, the FMLA was first drafted in 1986, which is 6 years before Clinton decided to run for president and 7 years before he was inaugurated. Reagan threatened to veto it (it was filibustered) and Bush, Sr. vetoed it twice. Clinton signed it into law, in fact, it was his first piece of legislation.

Why is she taking credit for it?

I'm furious with her taking credit for the peace process in Northern Ireland as well but this one takes the cake. If a celebrity chef gets fired for padding his resume, why should she take a pass?

[Horse with no Name]

1. This is RICH coming from an obama supporter

The KING Of the padded resume...where everyone was thrown off longtime committees so the anointed one could get the credit for legislation that was hammered and drafted before he ever was in the State Senate.:rofl:

[FunkyLeprechaun]

2. Hmmm

I'm only saying that she keeps saying that she's got the most experience and she takes credit for what Bill and others have done. I don't see Obama taking credit for what others have done.

What do you think of that?

It's like me taking credit for my hubby's thesis. If I put that on my CV, I'd be called on it and probably be fired.

[Horse with no Name]

3. Well I actually took the time to go listen to Bill Clinton speak

and HE said himself that Hillary is the one who worked on FMLA.
SO am I going to believe an ex-President who gives credit to his wife...or...AM I going to believe some rabid obama fans on the internet who take any opportunity to smear his or her record any chance they get?
Trust me...it is NOT a tough question to answer.

[FunkyLeprechaun]

4. Um no...

Chris Dodd tried to get it passed 7 years before Clinton became president. It was filibustered once (after Reagan threatened to veto it), and vetoed twice (passed Congress twice but Bush vetoed it each time). Clinton said in his campaign brochure that he would pass it anyway (Congress passed it once more and he signed it into law).

Are you saying that Hillary Clinton worked on FMLA? I didn't know she was a senator then as well.

[Horse with no Name]

5. Like I said...rabid obama supporters

No use in discussing ANYTHING rational with them.
:hi:

[FunkyLeprechaun]

6. Okay

I was just wondering why Hillary Clinton takes credit for something that Chris Dodd authored.

If you can't seem to answer that question, so be it.

[jackson_dem]

7. All Dodd could do is get it through the senate

It would have to pass the House and then be signed by the president. Perhaps she played a role in lobbying for it on the House side? I doubt it. What is more likely is she pushed Bill to sign it and worked for it at the White House end of the pipeline.

[FunkyLeprechaun]

9. Sure

Bill, however, had signing it as a campaign promise in his brochure. Link: http://www.4president.org/brochures/billclinton1992brochure.htm

Just below the bold "Reward Work and Families":

Sign the Family and Medical Leave Act to give American parents the right to 12 weeks of unpaid leave to care for a newborn or a sick relative.Text

As the diarist in the DailyKos link says: "Note that Bill Clinton didn’t say that he would work to pass it, just that he would sign it. He didn’t need to work to pass it since Congress had already passed it twice."

He knew that Congress would pass this bill again, so he didn't need to work to get this bill passed.

MAYBE it was her suggestion that he have it as a campaign promise? I could use this logic and say Laura Bush helped pass the No Child Left Behind Act. Who knows, she probably helped pass it.

[karynnj]

24. It passed both Houses twice - otherwise Bush I wouldn't have vetoed it twice.

Clinton campaigned on being willing to sign this. It's bad enough that he would have not funded the passed S-CHIP bill without HRC's nudging. Did Bill Clinton want to do anything wanted by Democrats on his own? Can you imagine the outcry had Clinton vetoed the family leave bill?

[bigtree]

8. Well, She DID Help Enact a Measure to Expand FMLA to Families of Wounded Warriors This Year

January 29, 2008

Senators Chris Dodd (D-CT) and Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) today applauded the enactment of their legislation, the Support for Injured Servicemembers Act, which was signed into law by President Bush late yesterday. The Dodd-Clinton legislation extends the benefits provided under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) by allowing the families of wounded military personnel to take up to six months of unpaid leave to care for their loved ones during the often lengthy rehabilitation process. The legislation immediately implements a key recommendation of the Commission on the Care for Wounded Warriors, led by former Senator Bob Dole and former Secretary of Health and Human Services Donna Shalala.

http://dodd.senate.gov/index.php?q=taxonomy/term/246


and these accounts:

(Bill) Clinton Steps Up Pressure for Family Leaves

Published: April 13, 1997

President Clinton, who has called on Congress to give American workers 24 hours of annual unpaid leave to fulfill family obligations, today increased the pressure to pass legislation by urging that Federal agencies provide the benefit to employees.

Mr. Clinton, in his weekly radio address, asked that a bill he proposed last year to expand the Family and Medical Leave Act be passed soon. The measure would give workers unpaid time off to attend parent-teacher conferences, take a child to the doctor or dentist, find child care or help an elderly relative with medical appointments or other services.

In the meantime, Mr. Clinton said he was asking Federal departments and agencies to make expanded family and medical leave available to employees immediately. ''Wherever possible, I want workers to have access right now to essential time off for family obligations,'' he said.

Mr. Clinton sent a memorandum today to the chiefs of more than 100 Federal departments and agencies, asking them to make expanded family and medical leave available to their employees immediately.

The President has no legal authority to set leave policies for agencies, and the memorandum that he sent today did not have the binding effect of an executive order. The Family and Medical Leave Act, which became law in 1993, allows workers to take up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave to care for a newborn or adopted child, to attend to their own serious health needs or to care for a seriously ill parent, child or spouse. Mr. Clinton urged members of Congress to ''come to the aid of our families'' by expanding the law.

He said he and First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton are bringing together experts next week for a conference as a ''call to action'' to parents, businesses, care givers, the media, the religious community and government to ''each to do their part to enhance the earliest years of life,'' Mr. Clinton said.

(This certainly looks like 'helping pass the FMLA. None but the most partisan could argue with that, I think.)


These folks say they 'worked with' Hillary Clinton to pass the original bill . . . Martha Burk, Gloria Feldt, Cecelia Fire Thunder, Lulu Flores, Kim Gandy, Ellen Malcolm, Irene Natividad, Ellie Smeal, Gloria Steinem, Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones

We know Hillary will expand fair work-family policies because we worked with her to pass the original Family and Medical Leave Act and then to expand it to cover military families, to provide paid leave, and to improve childcare.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/martha-burk/why-hillary-is-the-right-_b_84718.html


This should be an easy one for Hillary Clinton to shoot down. It smells of desperation to deny her credit for an effort she clearly made, alongside of her husband. But, you go ahead.

[FunkyLeprechaun]

10. Sure

I'll give credit for her helping pass that expansion measure this year. I'm not giving her credit for the original measure though. That goes to Chris Dodd and other democratic congresspeople that tried to pass it in the 7 years since it was first drafted.

[havocmom]

29. LOL and no point in trying to talk facts with bots who won't hear real history

Rational? Is it rational to deny the facts just because you have a political difference with the messenger?

:rofl:

edited for typo made from laughing so hard at the attempted rovian tactic of denying FACTS

[libbygurl]

32. Psst, read post # 30 - facts stated by Dodd himself.

Is he lying, then?

[havocmom]

51. Hillary was in the Senate when it passed? She got it through?

No.

[not_too_L8]

12. HA HA You wouldn't think he would back his wife in...

Her exagerations, would you?

[libbygurl]

33. He'd support his wife...

...in the facts. And it's 'exaggerations', btw. Which have nothing to do with this topic.

[FunkyLeprechaun]

37. Sure

Bill's only trying to get her elected so he'll say anything positive to get her elected. Even if it means having her take the credit for some of his major legislation.

[libbygurl]

40. Ehrm, so Sen. Dodd's statements mean nothing, then (see post #30)?

nt

[MagickMuffin]

17. Sure you can trust Bill "I did NOT have sex with that woman"

:eyes:

Talk about rabid supporters. Time to look in the mirror.

[libbygurl]

34. You're right, and so what did you see in your mirror?

A rabid supporter, as you say.

[yourguide]

20. Oh yes, and every word that comes out of Bills mouth IS true...

depending upon what your definition of "is" is.

[karynnj]

22. I see the light - Bill Clinton never lies or exaggerates and has no vested interest here.

The FMLA , as the OP shows, was crafted by Dodd years before the Clintons were there and it had passed Conngress. All they needed was a President willing to sign it. Bill Clinton, to his credit, was willing to sign that. The signature of HRC would not have sufficed. I seriously doubt that Dodd, then already a Senator for a decade, needed HRC to help him get a bill passed in a Senate where he knew everyone better than she did and the same went for the House sponsors.

[mrreowwr_kittty]

26. Well shit, if Bill says it, it must be true. nt

[karynnj]

21. Could you back this up with .... something like facts?

He threw no one off the SFRC and his chairmanship of the subcommittee on Europe is consistent with his seniority. There are 11 Democrats on the SFRC, Biden has the most seniority, so he is the chair. There are 7 subcommittees - the next 7 most senior Democrats chair them - they are listed here in the order of their chair's seniority. (Dodd, Kerry, Feingold, Boxer, Nelson, Obama, Menendez). There are 3 more junior members without chairs, Cardin, Casey and Webb.
http://www.senate.gov/~foreign/subcommittee.html

As you can see, Obama has the seniority to routinely get a chair in January 2007 when the new Congress began. No one "helped" him pad his resume.

On the Rules committee, he also threw no one off. He fought people like Schumer, who is more powerful in the Senate and won.

[Horse with no Name]

25. Facts? I have posted FACTS from reputable sources regarding everything I say

only to be told by obamabots that BLOGS tainted by Hillary-hate were more reliable.:crazy:
None of you DESERVE any more backed up facts. If you are interested in what I say...then perhaps if you would take off your rose colored glasses you might do some independent research and find out the truth for yourself. I highly doubt you will...you are swimming in the deep end of the koolaid.
So much so...that you are looking at the US Senate instead of the State Senate. Oh please tell me you DO know the difference? With all the neophytes who haven't nary a clue about the process...I cannot help but wonder if you realize that there is a difference between the two or if they lines have just blurred from the koolaid overdose.

[JTFrog]

11. She did team up with Lieberman to bring us the Workplace Religious Freedom Act.

That was to help families wasn't it? I mean unless someone in your family was sexually active. :shrug:

The problem for Clinton and Kerry—two of the Democratic Party's biggest names and its most likely presidential candidates—is that a broad swath of their left-wing base thinks the bill is a backdoor means to curb individual rights, and has come out hard against it. Heavyweights like the American Civil Liberties Union, Planned Parenthood, and the Human Rights Campaign contend that, in practice, "workplace religious freedom" could allow a nurse to refuse to give the morning-after pill to a rape victim. Or it could allow a school counselor to proselytize on "sins of the homosexual lifestyle" to a gay teen.

------

Most other Democrats have shied away from signing on to the bill so far. Indeed, among Senate Democrats, Clinton and Kerry stand nearly alone. (Of the five Democratic backers, four, including Senator Charles Schumer, are from the tristate area—where the Catholic and Orthodox Jewish bases are important.) Clinton's office has been notably quiet about her involvement, perhaps indicating that any credit she hopes to get for pushing the bill would come not from the larger public, but from the kind of select religious interests she's been courting lately as she lays the groundwork for a possible White House run in 2008 (see "God Is a Centrist Democrat," March 2). Her office says the senator will work to fine-tune the bill as it moves to the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, where she sits.

------

To hear civil rights advocates, though, the bill's language is so vague, so open-ended that it could infringe upon the rights of fellow employees and customers. They say the language not only leaves room for religious employees to disregard state and local laws banning sexual-orientation discrimination, but also enables them to deny access to women's reproductive health care.


-----


"We're not being paranoid," says Laser, of the National Women's Law Center. "A law like WRFA passed at a time like this is dangerous."

http://www.villagevoice.com/news/0514,lombardi,62680,6.html
http://www.aclu.org/religion/frb/16224leg20040602.html

And don't forget the Family Entertainment Protection Act that she and Lieberman (and Bayh) teamed up on so they can protect my kids from those dangerous Video Games. A trio that also brought in victories for IWR, Kyl-Lieberman and the Patriot Act.


Just look at all that experience.

[FunkyLeprechaun]

14. She also supported NAFTA

But she chooses to ignore that.

I'm really uncomfortable with her at the moment due to her votes and her actions recently in this election. I was considering voting for her (with my nose held) but now I don't think I can vote for her (thinking about sitting out the election if she's the nominee, I am NOT going to vote for McCain or Nader).

[JTFrog]

15. She is a DINO and has been a neo-con's wet dream. Her recent support of McInsane has led me to

believe she should be expelled from the party. Period.

[FunkyLeprechaun]

16. I have to agree with you here

I really don't understand why people continue to support her on here.

[libbygurl]

43. Question mark-'Expelled'? And what have YOU done for the Dems lately...

...besides pile on Hillary Clinton with a mountain of invented lies? You blithely choose to ignore all that the Clintons have done for the Democratic party for over two decades.

Methinks it's repellent, vicious people who should not be part of this party, who are all (baaad) talk and no action, especially loud and obnoxious on DU. Have you looked in your mirror lately?

[JTFrog]

45. Point to one of my posts where I pile on Hillary (victim thing is getting waaaaay old).

WFRA - FEPA - IWR - KYL-LIEBERMAN - PATRIOT ACT - BANKRUPTCY BILL - TELECOM SILENCE - ENDORSING JOHN MCINSANE

NEOCON WET DREAM. They've been getting off for some time now too.

She is a DINO. Period.

[libbygurl]

48. Didn't know she was a dinosaur.

Although you might think she is. Your accusations are getting waaaaaaay old. Repeat lies long enough and even you'll believe them. Your sleazy and salacious manner of attack reflect more on your anger than anything else.

[libbygurl]

42. And you choose to ignore the fact that she was NOT in favour of NAFTA herself...

...former Clinton advisor David Gergen has already attested to that on CNN in late Feb., 08.

[JTFrog]

47. she praised NAFTA while she was first lady and helped her husband lobby for its ratification.

In 1996, when the pact was three years old, she said the trade deal with Mexico and Canada was giving U.S. workers a chance to compete. "That's what a free and fair trade agreement like NAFTA is all about," she said. "I think NAFTA is proving its worth."

And she continued to praise it as a senator, while becoming more explicit in calling for improvements and citing its shortcomings.

In a speech to the centrist Democratic Leadership Council in 2002, the New York senator said this of her husband's record:

"The economic recovery plan stands first and foremost as a testament to both good ideas and political courage. National service. The Brady bill. Family leave. NAFTA. Investment in science and technology. New markets ....

"All of these came out of some very fundamental ideas about what would work. The results speak for themselves."

Why is this woman always helping to push things through she later says she doesn't really believe in?

[libbygurl]

50. So you think she should've contradicted her husband in public?

And as your quote actually states, she called for improvements on it for its shortcomings.

Keep pushing you own lies. Because nuance doesn't exist in your black-and-white world. Sorry, your blind hatred of Clinton is showing, and it ain't pretty.

[FunkyLeprechaun]

13. Kick!

I really wanted to discuss this issue rationally.

Why is she taking credit for a 7 year old bill? She says she helped pass the bill. Did she help it pass the last two times it passed? Both the House and Senate made this bill their Number 1 priority (it has the numbers Hr. 1 and S.1) and had to pass it again due to it being a new congress.

Did she lobby people to pass it? The very people who had struggled to pass it in the 7 years since it was created? Did she talk Dodd into writing the original bill?

I'm just wondering about those questions.

[karynnj]

18. For the same reason she is taking credit for S-CHIP in every state

It was a Kennedy/Hatch bill that passed a Republican dominated Senate (55- 45). HRC lobbied Bill Clinton once it had passed to include it in the budget - otherwise it would have been unfunded. (Bush has done this including on a major Veterans benifit bill recently.) The bill was based on a bill originally introduced by Kerry for himself and Kennedy. (In fact, one of my happiest moments helping call people for Obama was when taking a break with a large group of people - one mentioned that a few people called mentioned S-CHIP as why they were ok with Clinton. A man spoke up before I could - "That was Kerry's and Kennedy's baby - she just got Bill Clinton in line".

HRC has been in the Senate for 7 years. I know that the person whose name is on the bill is often not the one who did the most - but the head of the committee where it was worked on. What I don't see are many things where people could say "this was creative idea that HRC advocated for, creating enough support and shepherding it through Congress. Obama has real credentials in getting some of the "teeth" in the current ethics bill - there you could say that without him, they might well not be there. He also has a nice National Security credential in the bill he and Lugar wrote on non-proliferation - this incidentally is likely work he did with his sub-committee on Europe (where these issues resided even when Biden had that committee back when it was SALT that we were hearing about). That was what that committee did when the NE nad South Asia committee was doing oversight on Afghanistan.

[sniffa]

19. She's a Jack Of All Trades

Whether it's helping the FLMA get passed or bringing peace to Northern Ireland and the Balkans. :patriot:

[FunkyLeprechaun]

23. What's funny

Is the fact that she keeps taking credit for what he did. Propping yourself up on a pedestal using your husband's actions isn't feminist at all.

She's really not standing on her own.

[OzarkDem]

28. Yes, she worked on all of those

She was a "go to" person in the Clinton administration.

[OzarkDem]

27. She worked on it before he took office

as she did on a number of legislative issues before Bill was elected. I know firsthand she was meeting with women's health advocates in the summer before the election.

When it comes to these kinds of issues, especially those that affect women, she's one of those politicians who "gets it" the first time you tell her.

Congresswoman Pat Schroeder, who was head of the Congressional Women's Caucus back then, worked on the FMLA. She worked with Clinton and a number of other women leaders to get it passed. The idea had been out there for a while, but neither Reagan or Poppy would support it. When Bill Clinton was running for president, Hillary began meeting w/ women's groups and put together a women's agenda, among other things, for bills they wanted to pass when he was elected.

That's exactly what they did and yes, she did play an important role in helping get this bill and many others passed.

[Lucinda]

30. According to Sen Dodd himself she did help, and since it's his legislation, I think he'd know.

http://dodd.senate.gov/index.php?q=node/4075

Senator Clinton has been a champion of the Family and Medical Leave Act, which has helped more than 50 million Americans since President Clinton signed it into law in 1993. Senator Clinton has worked to build on this landmark law, cosponsoring the Family and Medical Leave Expansion Act and the Healthy Families Act. She has also introduced legislation to extend the Family and Medical Leave Act to flight attendants and pilots. As New York's first Senator to serve on the Senate Armed Services Committee, Senator Clinton has made it one of her top priorities to ensure that our brave men and women in uniform and their families have the healthcare and support they need, most recently securing a series of measures in the Dignified Treatment of Wounded Warriors Act approved unanimously by the Senate.

[libbygurl]

31. What Dodd says doesn't matter...only their fake outrage over fake issues does.

Poor babies.

[Lucinda]

35. It does boggle the mind at times...

:)

[FunkyLeprechaun]

36. What was Senator Clinton doing in 1986?

That was when FMLA was first drafted. Working at the Rose Law firm. I would hardly say that experience at that law firm inspired her to help pass that bill.

[Lucinda]

39. If you doubt her involvement after reading Dodd's comment, that's your prerogative.

:hi:

[rinsd]

46. Keep moving the goal posts since you got nailed for ignorance.

[FunkyLeprechaun]

52. I'm wondering what this post means?

Dodd first drafted this in 1986, which Reagan threatened to veto and it was filibustered. The last two times it passed, in 1989 and 1990, Bush I vetoed it.

Was Clinton present the first two times it passed? Was she a senator then?

No.

What about the final time it was passed? Probably not. She definitely wasn't a senator then.

[truedelphi]

38. her taking credit for this doesn't bother me

Just about every other thing she takes credit for, however, does.

[Sadie5]

41. Obamites are good for nothing

except lying and smearing. What has BO ever accomplished that is noteworthy.

[damonm]

44. For remedy of your ignorance:

From Wikipedia:
109th Congress -
"Partnering first with Sen. Dick Lugar (R-IN), and then with Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK), Obama successfully introduced two initiatives bearing his name. "Lugar-Obama" expands the Nunn-Lugar cooperative threat reduction concept to conventional weapons, including shoulder-fired missiles and anti-personnel mines.<61> The "Coburn-Obama Transparency Act" provides for the web site USAspending.gov, managed by the Office of Management and Budget. The site lists all organizations receiving Federal funds from 2007 onward and provides breakdowns by the agency allocating the funds, the dollar amount given, and the purpose of the grant or contract.<62>"

Hmmm...seems like he CAN work across the aisle...

Also:
"As a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Obama made official trips to Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. In August 2005, he traveled to Russia, Ukraine, and Azerbaijan. The trip focused on strategies to control the world's supply of conventional weapons, biological weapons, and weapons of mass destruction as a first defense against potential terrorist attacks.<64> Following meetings with U.S. military in Kuwait and Iraq in January 2006, Obama visited Jordan, Israel, and the Palestinian territories. At a meeting with Palestinian students two weeks before Hamas won the legislative election, Obama warned that "the U.S. will never recognize winning Hamas candidates unless the group renounces its fundamental mission to eliminate Israel."<65> He left for his third official trip in August 2006, traveling to South Africa, Kenya, Djibouti, Ethiopia and Chad. In a nationally televised speech at the University of Nairobi, he spoke forcefully on the influence of ethnic rivalries and corruption in Kenya.<66> The speech touched off a public debate among rival leaders, some formally challenging Obama's remarks as unfair and improper, others defending his positions.<67>"

No experience in international relations? Beg to differ.

110th Congress -
"In the first month of the newly Democratic-controlled 110th Congress, Obama worked with Russ Feingold (D–WI) to eliminate gifts of travel on corporate jets by lobbyists to members of Congress and require disclosure of bundled campaign contributions under the "Honest Leadership and Open Government Act", which was signed into law in September 2007.<68> He joined Chuck Schumer (D-NY) in sponsoring S. 453, a bill to criminalize deceptive practices in federal elections, including fraudulent flyers and automated phone calls, as witnessed in the 2006 midterm elections.<69> Obama's energy initiatives scored pluses and minuses with environmentalists, who welcomed his sponsorship with John McCain (R-AZ) of a climate change bill to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by two-thirds by 2050, but were skeptical of his support for a bill promoting liquefied coal production.<70> Obama also introduced the "Iraq War De-Escalation Act of 2007", a bill to cap troop levels in Iraq, begin phased redeployment, and remove all combat brigades from Iraq before April 2008.<71>

Later in 2007, Obama sponsored with Kit Bond (R-MO) an amendment to the 2008 Defense Authorization Act adding safeguards for personality disorder military discharges, and calling for a review by the Government Accountability Office following reports that the procedure had been used inappropriately to reduce government costs.<72> He sponsored the "Iran Sanctions Enabling Act" supporting divestment of state pension funds from Iran's oil and gas industry,<73> and joined Chuck Hagel (R-NE) in introducing legislation to reduce risks of nuclear terrorism.<74> A provision from the Obama-Hagel bill was passed by Congress in December 2007 as an amendment to the State-Foreign Operations appropriations bill.<74> Obama also sponsored a Senate amendment to the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) to provide one year of job protection for family members caring for soldiers with combat-related injuries.<75> After passing both houses of Congress with bipartisan majorities, SCHIP was vetoed by President Bush in early October 2007, a move Obama said "shows a callousness of priorities that is offensive to the ideals we hold as Americans."<76>

Yep - he CAN work across the aisle.

You're welcome for the education.

[NMMatt]

49. What do you expect from someone who uses "wife" as a job description? -nt