Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand on Tuesday said she would welcome a sitdown with President Trump to talk about paid family leave, as she unveiled a proposal to fund the provision through payroll taxes.
“I will sit down with any Republican who wants to talk about a paid leave plan including President Trump,” said Gillibrand, D-N.Y., at a press conference. “That’s an invitation.”
Gillibrand, who is vying for the 2020 Democratic nomination to run against Trump, introduced the Family and Medical Leave Act alongside Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., who is sponsoring the House version.
Gillibrand’s latest legislative rollout comes at a time when support for paid family leave among Republicans is growing, and is even a priority for Trump. Several GOP senators have credited first daughter and senior White House adviser Ivanka Trump for this shift because over several months of conversations she helped make the case that paid family leave was both “pro-family” and “pro-workers.” Before that, only Democrats had backed the cause.
The conversations culminated in a Senate hearing last summer, the first in almost four years on paid family leave.
Republicans are planning their next moves. They are meeting Wednesday morning with Ivanka Trump and Sens. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, Marco Rubio of Florida, Joni Ernst of Iowa, Todd Young of Indiana, and Mike Lee of Utah, according to a Senate Republican aide. By March, several Republicans are expected to unveil legislation of their own.
DeLauro and Gillibrand both said they had also met with Ivanka Trump on the issue. Gillibrand’s unveiling adds to a campaign platform centered on feminist causes. While the paid leave provision would be available to all workers, women disproportionately end up caring for a new child after birth or adoption, as well as for sick family members.
“It’s a major cause of the wage gap for women, who still take on the lion’s share of responsibility,” Gillibrand said.
More women are running for president than ever, but Gillibrand has in media interviews and legislative priorities deliberately cast herself as the candidate dedicated to gender equality. She described herself first as a “young mom” when she announced on television that she was running for the White House.
The U.S. stands in contrast to other industrialized nations that have set a mandatory or subsidized leave policy. Under the 1993 Family Medical Leave Act, employers with 50 workers or more must allow 12 weeks of leave every year so they care for a new child or an ill parent, but in most cases, the leave isn’t paid.
“It’s encouraging to see members on both sides of the aisle putting forward paid family leave proposals,” Ivanka Trump said in an statement provided to the Washington Examiner. “Twenty-five years after FMLA was passed we finally have bipartisan agreement on the importance of paid leave for working parents. Now we are seeking to build consensus around policy that can garner enough votes to be passed into law.”
While there is now bipartisan support for the goal of paid family leave, members of the two parties disagree about the details.
Gillibrand’s bill, dubbed the “Family Act,” allows leave for circumstances other than a new child, including if a family member gets sick or if someone needs to take time off to undergo treatment for an illness. During that time, people would be guaranteed 66 percent of their regular earnings, or up to $4,000 a month. The plan is similar to short-term disability coverage some employers offer.
The legislation has not been scored by the Congressional Budget Office, the nonpartisan agency that evaluates the impact proposed policies have on the federal budget and on families. The bill has 161 House co-sponsors and 34 Senate co-sponsors, all Democrats or independents, and would operate similarly to laws on the books in California, New Jersey, New York, and Rhode Island.
Republicans have instead focused on using existing programs to guarantee paid family leave. Trump called again during his State of the Union address this year for Congress to pass legislation that would promote paid family leave. Last year, Trump called in his budget for six weeks of paid family leave to new mothers and fathers by allowing states to use unemployment insurance. White House officials wouldn’t comment on the upcoming budget in a recent interview with the Washington Examiner.
In Congress, Rubio introduced a bill last year that would let new parents draw from their Social Security benefits early to pay for leave and then defer their retirement benefits.
Democratic critics of the idea say that people already do not receive enough in Social Security benefits and that the policy would disadvantage low-income workers and larger families.
“Their proposals fail to go far enough,” DeLauro said, noting that most people who take leave do it for reasons other than becoming a new parent.
Gillibrand took a shot at Trump during the press conference, noting he had mentioned paid family leave in his speech but “doesn’t actually try to pass a real paid leave bill.” She accused Republicans of setting up a “false choice” over their retirement and paid leave.
“We think paid leave should cover all workers for all life events,” she said.
CORRECTION: In an earlier version of this story, the Washington Examiner incorrectly named Bill Nelson as a senator from Louisiana. The name has since been changed to refer to Sen. Bill Cassidy. The Washington Examiner apologizes for the error.
