Initial budget deal without paid leave “fails working families,” Congress cannot accept a final deal without paid leave
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Oct. 27 2021
Today, Congress zeroed in on an initial framework of the Build Back Better deal that fails to include any plan for paid family and medical leave. Despite consistent reports of a four-week program, reports this afternoon suggest that the current proposal includes zero weeks of paid leave.
The following is a statement from Paid Leave for the US (PL+US) Executive Director Molly Day on the need for any final deal to include a federal paid leave program:
“It’s outrageous and shameful that in the midst of a global pandemic that’s forced more than 2 million women out of the workforce, Congress and the White House have put forward a preliminary legislative deal without paid family and medical leave. Let’s be clear: A budget deal that does not include paid leave fails working families and will not allow us to build back better.
“Paid leave is an essential tool for building back better -- for returning millions of women to the workforce after a historic she-cession, addressing the widening racial wealth gap and other socio-economic income disparities, and creating the business resiliency our national economy needs in 2021.
“Paid leave is about ensuring that no working person has to choose between their family and their paycheck, and the American people are not going to allow that essential human need to be ignored and negotiated away behind closed doors.
“Congress cannot accept a final Build Back Better deal without paid leave. While this initial deal falls far short of what working people need and deserve, we are committed to fighting shoulder-to-shoulder with leaders in the House and Senate to ensure that the final legislation that reaches President Biden’s desk includes a federal framework for paid family and medical leave.” -- Molly Day, Executive Director, Paid Leave for the U.S. (PL+US)