Policies that aim to make California’s paid family leave program more progressive tell a cautionary tale. They also may give low-wage workers across the country cause to thank centrist Senate Democrats for blocking a similar initiative tucked in President Joe Biden’s failed Build Back Better legislation.

The Golden State’s first-in-the-nation paid leave program, financed through a 1.1% payroll tax on workers, redistributes money from lower-income to higher-income families. Many low-income workers who pay into the program say it does not pay enough in benefits for them to afford to take time away from work.