"Fifteen years ago today, on February 5, 1993, the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) was signed into law. It was the first bill President Clinton signed—but by the time it reached his desk, it had endured eight years of obstruction and two presidential vetoes. Over those eight years, I was driven by stories of Americans forced to make the excruciating choice between the job they need and the family they love: new mothers returning to work after the birth of their child to find that they had been replaced; husbands facing demotion if they stayed home to care for an ailing wife.

"No story inspired me more than Eva Bunnell’s. When I first met Eva at church in East Haddam, Conneticut, I learned how her daughter Jacinta had been born with a rare brain disease and was fighting for her life in the ICU. Her husband asked his employer for time off to be at the side of his wife and baby. And he was told to never come back—leaving the family without an income, without health insurance, and almost without hope. Fortunately, doctors were able to save Eva’s daughter. But the truth is that, before the FMLA, stories like Eva’s were a fact of American working life.

"Today, though, millions of workers are guaranteed 12 weeks of leave every year, so that they can watch over a newborn or adopted baby, or help a parent through an illness, or get better themselves, knowing that their job will be there for them when they return. More than 50 million Americans have taken that opportunity since the FMLA became law.

"But there is still more to be done. For every worker who can weather a day without pay, three more can’t afford the loss, and the painful choice between work and family remains. Americans deserve paid leave—at least eight weeks of it. I’m proud to have written a bill ensuring just that.

"If the struggle for the FMLA was any guide, we’ll likely have another long fight on our hands. But the truth is the same as it was 15 years ago: a good idea is worth it."