Failing to include paid leave in Build Back Better bill “would be a profound economic & political mistake."

October 7, 2021

CONTACT:
Neil Sroka, neil@paidleave.us
Kristina Hagen, kristina@familyfriendlyeconomyva.org

STATEMENT: Failing to include paid leave in Build Back Better bill “would be a profound economic & political mistake.”

Amidst reports in the New York Times, AXIOS, and elsewhere suggesting that key care priorities in the Build Back Better budget bill are being potentially reduced or cut, Molly Day, Executive Director of Paid Leave for the U.S. (PL+US), issued the following statement:

“A scalable permanent Paid Family and Medical Leave plan is critical to building back better. Paid leave is one of the only policies in the Build Back Better package that has the potential to impact every working person across geography, gender, community, age, and race. We cannot abandon a policy that is so fundamental to families and our economy.

“A Paid Family and Medical Leave policy will allow working people -- especially women, people of color, and low-wage workers -- to keep their jobs when illness or injury strikes them or their families, or when they welcome a new baby. It will save businesses money in hiring and retention costs and productivity. It will contribute to a growing economy, and it will help close the gender gap. The benefits are clear.

“Suggesting that Americans have to choose between care policies that stabilize families during a pandemic is a false choice, it’s bad policy and worse politics -- especially given the millions of women who voted in the last election for an administration and Congress who committed to prioritizing policies, like paid leave, that disproportionately benefit them.

“The United States is the world’s only industrialized country without a national paid family and medical leave program, which left us woefully unprepared for a global pandemic that has forced more than two million women out of the workforce. Failing to establish a paid leave program in the wake of what American voters saw and experienced the last 18 months would be a profound economic and political mistake.” -- Molly Day, Executive Director, Paid Leave for the U.S. (PL+US)

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