Backgrounder
Bill name: Healthy Families Act
Bill sponsors: Rep. Rosa Delauro (D-CT) and Sen. Patti Murray (D-WA), joined by 122 cosponsors in the House and 32 cosponsors in the Senate.
Summary: Proposed legislation to require paid sick leave for private-sector workers.
Background: The Healthy Families Act is the latest of a series of paid family leave bills from both the left and right. In March 2019, Senate Republicans Joni Ernst (R-IA) and Mike Lee (R-UT) rolled out their CRADLE Act, which would provide paid family leave for workers through early use of up to three months of social security benefits. In February 2019, Rep. Rosa DeLauro and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) reintroduced the FAMILY Act (S. 463, H.R. 1185), legislation to create a national paid family and medical leave insurance program funded through an increased payroll deduction.
Recent Development: In early April 2019, Sens. Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Mitt Romney (R-UT) and Reps. Ann Wagner (R-MO) and Dan Crenshaw (R-TX) unveiled their “New Parents Act”, a bill to create a federal paid leave benefit program. Turn page over to learn more.
Bill Status: No hearings have been announced, but hearings on paid family leave are likely at the House Committee on Education and Labor, House Committee on Ways and Means, and Senate Finance Committee.
RECENT DEVELOPMENT
More Information on the New Parents Act:
Introduced on April 9, 2019 by Sens. Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Mitt Romney (R-UT) and Reps. Ann Wagner (R-MO) and Dan Crenshaw (R-TX), the “New Parents Act” would create a federal paid leave benefit program that allows parents to make use of social security benefits to fund paid maternity or paternity leave and then delaying their retirement or reducing future benefits by a commensurate amount. It is an updated version of the “Economic Security for New Parents Act” introduced by Rubio in the 116th Congress, which was modeled on the Social Security Earned Leave proposal from the Independent Women’s Forum.
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