Washington, DC – Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton today joined with Senator Christopher Dodd and a bipartisan coalition of Senators to introduce an amendment to the SCHIP bill under consideration by the Senate to extend the Family and Medical Leave Act to family members of wounded soldiers to six months. The bipartisan Support for Injured Servicemembers Act is also cosponsored by Senators Dole, Graham, Mikulski, Chambliss, Brown, Salazar, Cardin, Menendez, Kennedy, Boxer, Reed, Murray, Harkin and Lieberman.
The following is a transcript of Senator Clinton’s remarks on the Senate floor:
Mr. President, I thank Chairman Baucus, and I thank both Senators Dodd and Senator Chambliss for their vigorous explanation and advocacy of the bill which we have introduced that we are proposing to have as an amendment to the current legislation pending before the Senate, because we think that the duty to honor our veterans, our servicemembers and their families is urgent.
This is a duty that we take very seriously, and clearly based on the recently released Commission on Care for America's Returning Wounded Warriors, chaired by former Senator Bob Dole and former Secretary of Health and Human Services Donna Shalala, it is a matter of grave urgency for our nation to do everything we can to improve support for our servicemembers and veterans. The commission found that one of the most important ways to improve that care is to improve support for families. And that is why Senator Dodd and I have introduced an amendment to the CHIP legislation, the Support for Injured Servicemembers Act.
Mr. President, we are proud to have the bipartisan support of Senators Dole, Graham, Mikulski, Chambliss, Brown, Salazar, Cardin, Menendez, Kennedy, Boxer and Jack Reed, because this is a matter that goes way beyond politics as usual. It is certainly way beyond partisanship.
During the course of the Dole-Shalala commission work, they showed what many families across the country already knew: that the Family and Medical Leave Act, which Senator Dodd worked so hard on for so many years and which was the first piece of legislation signed by my husband, has been a godsend to 60 million Americans over the course of the last years -- people taking care of newborn babies, a family member with an accident or illness, with an aging relative. And it has made it possible for so many Americans to balance the difficult responsibilities of family and work. But what has been abundantly clear with all of our wounded warriors returning from Iraq and Afghanistan is that it was not sufficient for family members to care for those young servicemembers who have sustained a combat-related injury.
Currently spouses, parents, and children can receive only 12 weeks of leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act. All too often, as we have now learned, that is insufficient as injured servicemembers grapple with traumatic brain injuries, severe physical wounds, learning how to use a prosthetic, trying to understand what post-traumatic stress disorder means to them and to their futures, and indeed family members have dropped everything. They have tried to be at the bedside, stay in the area to help their loved one, give up jobs even. That seems to us to be more than the sacrifice that their loved one has already made demands.
Imagine if your husband or wife or your son or your daughter had been injured. You'd want to be with them. You'd want to take care of them. But you wouldn't want to lose your job in the process.
It's not a choice that military families should take. Therefore, that is why we are asking for our colleagues to join with us to pass the Support for Injured Servicemembers Act and to allow us to really fulfill this duty that we all feel to our military families. And I appreciate very much Senator Dodd's leadership on this for many years, and on this particular legislation. And we invite even more cosponsors from both sides of the aisle to join us. And we hope that we will have a vote on this before we leave the Congress, before we finish the CHIP legislation, so that we can go home and tell military families that help is on the way.
UPDATE: Senate Approves Dodd-Clinton Measure to Expand Family and Medical Leave Benefits to Wounded Warriors and Families
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