The issue of paid family leave in the U.S. is gaining momentum among lawmakers. In December 2019, President Trump signed a multibillion-dollar defense bill that guarantees federal workers 12 weeks of paid leave after the birth or adoption of a child.
The bill includes language from the Federal Employee Paid Leave Act, written by Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.). “When this bill is signed into law, it will be a tremendous victory for 2.1 million federal employees who will no longer need to choose between being home with their new child or their paychecks,” Maloney said in a statement.
While the legislation only applies to federal employees, its passage suggests a changing tide since the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) was passed in 1993. FMLA allowed eligible employees to take up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave in the case of birth or adoption, when recovering from a serious illness or when providing care for a seriously ill family member.
The passage of paid parental leave for federal workers in December was also a victory for President Trump and his daughter, senior White House advisor Ivanka Trump, who has long been campaigning for a nationwide plan. “What has become incredible is that people aren’t debating anymore whether or not paid family leave is good policy,” Ivanka Trump said in an interview with CBS touting the bill’s passage. “They’re debating what’s the best policy.”
Still, despite the bipartisan interest in setting some sort of national standard for paid family leave, there is significant disagreement over how to fund it and who should receive the benefit.
Democrats are largely in favor of starting a new federal fund that would be financed through an increase in payroll taxes. Early in 2019, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) and Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) reintroduced the FAMILY Act (S. 463 and H.R. 1185), which would allow all workers to take three months of paid leave and collect up to 66% of their salary after the birth or adoption of a child, to care for a sick family member or to recover from an illness. To pay for the benefit, the bill would add a 0.2% tax on wages, split between employers and employees.
Four of the 2020 Democratic presidential candidates, including Sens. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), and former South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg, support the Family Act.
The Family Act was originally introduced in 2013 but has not garnered support from Republicans because it would raise taxes. Instead, many Republicans favor proposals that would treat paid family leave as more of a personal loan.
For example, the CRADLE Act from Sens. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) and Mike Lee (R-Utah) would enable eligible workers, including adoptive parents, to receive one, two or three months of paid leave to care for a new child if they delay activating their Social Security benefits by two, four or six months. “Our proposal is a path forward for a budget neutral paid leave option that gives parents greater flexibility without imposing a new government entitlement or mandate,” Ernst said in a statement.
Sens. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) teamed up for a similar proposal, which they call the first bipartisan proposal for paid parental leave. Their plan would allow qualifying workers to receive $5,000 in the year following a child’s birth or adoption, which would then be repaid over the next decade through cuts in their child tax credit.
Like the CRADLE Act, the Cassidy-Sinema plan would only apply to new parents and would not address workers who want to take paid time off to care for sick family members or to recover from an illness themselves.
Opponents to these proposals say they may not provide much of a benefit and could effectively create financial hardship later in a child’s or a worker’s life. The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a progressive think tank, notes that the Cassidy-Sinema bill “provides no net new financial help for families. In effect, it is a loan that families would repay during some of a family’s most financially crunched years.”
Eight states — California, Rhode Island, Washington, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Oregon and New York — and the District of Columbia have already passed family leave legislation, and several others are considering it. The issue has also been raised in the presidential campaign, keeping the debate on the national stage.
For background, see the April 1991 issue of Congressional Digest on “Family and Medical Leave.”
