WASHINGTON —  Hillary Rodham Clinton takes credit on her campaign Web site for helping to pass the Family and Medical Leave Act, which allows workers to take up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave for family emergencies.

On the campaign trail, she makes similar claims, while offering credit to Democrats in Congress and sometimes singling out chief Senate sponsor Chris Dodd, a former rival who has endorsed Barack Obama over Clinton for the Democratic presidential nomination.

THE SPIN:

On her Web site, Clinton includes a list of issues she "has fought for and will make a priority as president." These include: "helping to pass the Family and Medical Leave Act to enable new parents to take time off without losing their jobs, and expanding it to make it available to more parents and to provide for longer leave." Obama's campaign scoffs at Clinton's claim that she helped pass the law, pointing out that it was signed just weeks after her husband became president, and it had passed Congress twice previously.

THE FACTS:

Bill Clinton signed the Family and Medical Leave Act on Feb. 5, 1993, 16 days after he became president. It was the first major legislation of his presidency, and the fulfillment of a key campaign promise. Former President Bush had twice vetoed similar legislation. The first lady joined her husband at an elaborate Rose Garden signing ceremony, where the president singled out 10 legislators from both parties for their work on the bill. He did not give a shout-out to his wife.

Former Rep. William Clay of Missouri, who sponsored the bill on the House side, says the bill easily passed the Congress in 1993, and he recalls no involvement by Hillary Clinton. "The bill never was in trouble," he said.

But former Rep. Pat Schroeder, a strong proponent of the legislation, remembers Hillary Clinton as a "huge" advocate for the proposal during her time as Arkansas first lady and during the 1992 presidential campaign. Once the Clintons were in the White House, Schroeder said, "it was just putting a bow around it at that point. Certainly she had worked very hard the past five years to get it there."

In the final days before the 1993 bill won congressional approval, Hillary Clinton, Al Gore, and President Clinton all went to Capitol Hill for last-minute lobbying, according to news stories from the time.

Now in the Senate, Clinton joined Dodd in sponsoring legislation that was enacted this year to expand benefits provided under the family leave law by allowing the families of wounded military personnel to take up to six months of unpaid leave to care for loved ones. As a presidential candidate, she has called for extending unpaid family leave to an additional 13 million workers and spending $1 billion a year on paid leave programs.

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By Nancy Benac

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