Paid Family and Medical Leave on the Skids?

Today, passage of Joe Biden’s historic infrastructure bill took a blow. The paid family and medical leave portion of the economic and climate package may die as Democrats scramble to reach an agreement among their colleagues. Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) has been an ardent “crepehanger” regarding the price tag of the bill. In an effort to secure his support, Democrats scaled back Biden’s initial 12-week proposal to four weeks in an effort to secure Manchin’s support. But Manchin wsn’t having it.

So the dems may in fact scrap the leave clause from the bill. 

Democrats have scaled back their initial $3.5 trillion blueprint for the plan to around $1.5 trillion to accommodate Manchin, Kirsten Sinema (D-AZ) and other moderates. Since then, the proposal to provide paid family and medical leave has been in dire straits.

CNN quoted Manchin as saying: “To expand social programs when you have trust funds that aren’t solvent, they’re going insolvent. I can’t explain that. It doesn’t make sense to me,” Manchin said. “I want to work with everyone as long as we can start paying for things. That’s all. I can’t put this burden on my grandchildren. I’ve got 10 grandchildren … I just can’t do it.”

Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) said she addressed Manchin’s thought that a large federal leave program would harm the solvency of Social Security. She had a chat with the Virginia Senator, making the case that women with access to paid family leave are 40% more likely to rejoin the work force after having a baby.She also pointed out that paid leave would bolster the Social Security system in two ways: 1). It would help parents have children (boosting the future work force), and 2). it would increase the workforce now, boosting Social Security revenue.

Ms. Gillibrand stated, “Five million women lost their jobs during the pandemic, we need it to recover.”

Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), rebuked Manchin, saying, “We are not going to let one man tell millions of women in this country that they can’t have paid leave.” Although Speaker Nancy Pelosi stated that they are still fighting for the leave program, but the prospects look dim.

Manchin, as so many in Washington fail to realize, that investing in our children and parenting is the single most important investment a country can make. 

And of 41 countries, the US ranks last in government-mandated parental leave. Mothers who work either full or part time in the US has increased over the past half-century from 51% to 72%. Almost half of two-parent families now include two full-time working parents. At the same time, working fathers are taking on more child care responsibilities.

Despite these facts, a Pew Research study showed that the U.S. is the only country among 41 nations that does not mandate any paid leave for new parents. For example, Estonia offers more than a year and a half of paid leave to new parents. Bulgaria, Japan, Austria, Hungary, Lithuania, Slovakia, Norway and Slovenia offer over a whole year’s worth of paid leave. The United States, Suriname, Papua New Guinea, and a few island countries in the Pacific Ocean are the only countries in the United Nations that do not require employers to provide paid time off for new parents.

Many studies have documented the benefits of paid family leave. Giving parents paid time off to care for newborns and/or young children contributes to the children’s overall development. It has been shown to improve maternal health, encourages father involvement, and benefits a families’ financial security. Paid medical and caregiving leave also lets workers take care of themselves and loved ones if they become ill or injured, and reduces the stresses of financial insecurity during such times. Paid leave also benefits businesses by improving employee retention and productivity, and employers that offer paid leave programs are popular among employees and potential hires.

The benefits of paid fmaily leave has been demonstrated by California’s 2019 paid family leave program. It was found to lower the risk of poverty among mothers of infants by 10% and increased household income for those mothers by an average of 4%. California’s program also significantly reduced food insecurity among households which had newborns. These results were strong for low-income and minority mothers, who have access to fewer resources that help parents juggle caregiving responsibilities and employment.

If the paid family and medical portion of the bill fails to pass, moderate Democrats will fail working-class Americans. The revolutionary part of this bill is that it mirrors the establishment of social security, medicaid and medicare. Since their inception over 50 years ago, Americans have grown to depend on these programs, and they are popular among Republican, Independent and Democratic voters alike. 

If the measure fails to pass, our representatives in Washington will have let down working Americans, and it may hurt Democrats in 2022. After-all, young working parents, as well as those hurt or unable to work due to medical issues may ask themselves, “what have Democrats done for us?”