30th Anniversary of the Family and Medical Leave Act, 8203-8204 [2023-02757]

Agencies

• Executive Office of the President

[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 25 (Tuesday, February 7, 2023)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 8203-8204]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-02757]



[[Page 8201]]

Vol. 88

Tuesday,

No. 25

February 7, 2023

Part IV





The President





-----------------------------------------------------------------------



Proclamation 10520--30th Anniversary of the Family and Medical Leave 
Act



Notice of February 6, 2023--Continuation of the National Emergency With 
Respect to the Situation in and in Relation to Burma


                        Presidential Documents 



Federal Register / Vol. 88 , No. 25 / Tuesday, February 7, 2023 / 
Presidential Documents

___________________________________________________________________

Title 3--
The President

[[Page 8203]]

                Proclamation 10520 of February 3, 2023

                
30th Anniversary of the Family and Medical Leave 
                Act

                By the President of the United States of America

                A Proclamation

                For 30 years, the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) 
                has given American workers the right to take time to 
                care for themselves and their loved ones without losing 
                their jobs. When President Clinton signed it into law 
                on February 5, 1993, I was proud to have fought for it 
                as a United States Senator alongside tenacious 
                advocates and Members of Congress.

                Before its passage, parents were not guaranteed time 
                off for staying home with a newborn or sick child, and 
                workers could lose their health insurance for taking 
                leave to fight an illness. The FMLA ended that for 
                millions of Americans, guaranteeing up to 12 weeks of 
                unpaid leave annually to care for a spouse, a parent, a 
                child, or themselves, and preserving their jobs until 
                they returned. The law has given countless Americans 
                peace of mind in their toughest moments. It has made 
                workplaces fairer and healthier. And it has made it 
                easier for millions of women--who still 
                disproportionately shoulder caregiving 
                responsibilities--to remain in the workforce, 
                benefitting our whole economy.

                But it is not enough to just protect people's jobs; we 
                must also protect their paychecks so every American 
                worker can afford to be there for their loved ones. The 
                COVID-19 pandemic made this even more obvious. The 
                United States is one of the only countries in the world 
                that does not provide paid leave to its workers, 
                undermining the health and economic security of 
                families and our Nation. As millions more Americans 
                join today's so-called ``sandwich generation,'' 
                struggling to care for both young kids and aging 
                parents, we need to help.

                That is why, when I took office as President, I 
                proposed the first national paid family and medical 
                leave program in our history. Paid leave would help 
                bring more people back into the workforce--boosting 
                productivity, securing wages, and easing budgets for 
                working families. And it would give workers more 
                dignity and control over their own lives.

                During the depths of the COVID-19 pandemic, my 
                Administration expanded the Child Tax Credit to give 
                millions of families a little more breathing room, 
                helping cut child poverty to the lowest rate on record. 
                We gave 200,000 childcare providers the funding needed 
                to keep their doors open, serving over 9.5 million 
                children nationwide. We invested $145 million in the 
                National Family Caregiver Support Program, which gives 
                family and other informal care providers counseling, 
                training, and respite care to support loved ones. I 
                recently signed the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act to 
                ensure that employers make reasonable accommodations 
                related to pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical 
                conditions. And just yesterday, I signed a Presidential 
                Memorandum to make sure Federal employees are able to 
                access leave when they need it, to the fullest extent 
                possible.

                I ran for President to restore the backbone of this 
                country--the middle class. My Administration is 
                fighting for working families across the board. We are 
                lowering health care costs and prescription drug costs. 
                We are reducing home energy bills. We have created 
                nearly 11 million jobs, reducing unemployment to a 50-
                year low as wages keep rising. And we have protected 
                the pensions that over a million American workers and 
                retirees worked

[[Page 8204]]

                for their whole lives, making sure they can retire with 
                dignity and respect. Thirty years after the FMLA was 
                signed, we reaffirm that nothing is more important than 
                being there for the ones you love when they need you 
                most.

                NOW, THEREFORE, I, JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR., President of 
                the United States of America, by virtue of the 
                authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws 
                of the United States, do hereby proclaim February 5, 
                2023, as the 30th Anniversary of the Family and Medical 
                Leave Act. I call upon Americans to honor those who 
                advocated for this crucial legislation and to join the 
                fight for the dignity and rights of workers across this 
                Nation.

                IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this 
                third day of February, in the year of our Lord two 
                thousand twenty-three, and of the Independence of the 
                United States of America the two hundred and forty-
                seventh.
                
                
                    (Presidential Sig.)

[FR Doc. 2023-02757
Filed 2-6-23; 11:15 am]
Billing code 3395-F3-P