By now, we all know how over-hyped are Hillary claims about her foreign policy experience – including her claims that she negotiated peace treaties and opened borders.
But there’s also hype in her claims about domestic policy. Take, for instance, the claim on Hillary Clinton's web site that
As First Lady, she helped pass the Family and Medical Leave Act
Now, that sounds like she worked hard to get the FMLA put into law, that her efforts really made a difference. However, this is patently untrue.
If you don’t read this whole post, all you need to know is that Bill Clinton was inaugurated on January 20, 1993 and the FMLA was signed just sixteen days later, on February 5, 1993.
Just on that basis it doesn’t look like the First Lady had to do much of anything to get it done. But read on for the full chronology which reveals the emptiness of Hillary's Clinton's attempt to get credit for this legislation.
- Senator Chris Dodd is generally credited as being the author of the FMLA. He wrote and introduced a version of it in 1986, six years before Bill Clinton ran for president and seven years before Clinton took office.
- It was a long slog to get the FMLA passed. The Senate would have passed it under Reagan but because there was a threatened presidential veto and a filibuster it was pulled.
- Then Congress passed it twice during George H.W. Bush’s presidency. It was vetoed both times.
- When Bill Clinton ran for office in 1992, he promised he would sign this legislation. A campaign brochure said that he would
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.
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.
- After Clinton was elected, the Congress took this up quickly, in part to show that they and the new president could break the Washington gridlock and could get things done.
As the New York Times reported on January 6, 1993, two weeks before Clinton took office
The 103d Congress convened today and Democratic leaders promptly set about establishing legislative priorities to demonstrate that they can work with a Democratic President by re-passing bills President Bush vetoed.
A bill requiring employers to grant workers unpaid leaves for family and medical emergencies emerged at the top of the list. The family leave bill was designated H.R.1, as the first bill introduced in the House in the new Congress. Senator George J. Mitchell of Maine, the majority leader, said would be designated S.1 once it was introduced.
- The Family and Medical Leave Act, H.R.1 and S.1, was passed by the House on February 3 and by the Senate on February 4. While they had passed it twice before, because this was a new Congress, they needed to pass it again.
- Fulfilling his campaign promise to sign the bill that had been authored by Dodd and vetoed twice by the former president, the FMLA was the very first piece of legislation signed by President Clinton.
Now, I think that getting the FMLA enacted into law was a very good thing. According to Chris Dodd, "An estimated 50 million workers have been able to take up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave when they were ill or needed to care for a new child or a sick family member because of Dodd’s historic Family and Medical Leave Act."
But the claim of Hillary Clinton that
As First Lady, she helped pass the Family and Medical Leave Act
Well, that is just hype.
Let’s tell this story - far and wide.
And if you have any other cases where Hillary Clinton has over-hyped her activities as First Lady or in other capacities, please list them below. Maybe we can compile a comprehensive list.
UPDATE: Evidently a group of Hillary's supporters (Martha Burk, Gloria Feldt, Cecelia Fire Thunder, Lulu Flores, Kim Gandy, Ellen Malcolm, Irene Natividad, Ellie Smeal, Gloria Steinem, Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones) is spreading this hype.
We know Hillary will expand fair work-family policies because we worked with her to pass the original Family and Medical Leave Act
Huffington Post