Democratic Pennsylvania Rep. Chrissy Houlahan and Republican Oklahoma Rep. Stephanie Bice introduced bipartisan legislation focused on paid family leave Wednesday with hopes to get it secured in the forthcoming GOP tax bill.
The More Paid Leave for More Americans Act has two parts: the Paid Family Leave Public Partnerships Act and the Interstate Paid Leave Action Network Act (I-PLAN Act) that Houlahan and Bice hope to secure in the upcoming bill, which President Donald Trump has called “one big, beautiful bill.” The congresswomen are co-chairs of the Bipartisan House Paid Family Leave Working Group, and their legislation has been a “culmination of two years of collaboration” between the two women and Republican Iowa Reps. Mariannette Miller-Meeks and Randy Feenstra as well as Louisiana Rep. Julia Letlow, and Democratic Reps. Haley Stevens of Michigan, Don Beyer of Virginia and Jimmy Gomez of California.
The Paid Family Leave Public Partnerships Act is a three year pilot program overseen by the Department of Labor and provides states with grants to establish paid family leave programs. To qualify for the grants, states must offer between 50% and 67% of wage replacement based on income with a benefits cap at 150% of the state’s average weekly wage. They also must offer at least six weeks of paid leave after childbirth or adoption, have a public-private partnership model, and participate in the I-PLAN for uniformity across the nation.
“As a mother myself, I recognize the challenges and the importance of uplifting working parents so that they do not have to choose between caring for a newborn and a paycheck. The More Paid Leave for More Americans Act empowers states to create their own sustainable paid leave programs through public-private partnerships, while also ensuring coordination and consistency across state lines,” Bice said. “We’re not mandating a one-size-fits-all federal program, we’re building a flexible federal strategy that supports state innovation and addresses the real challenges families face today.”
The I-PLAN Act serves as a nation-wide framework to help states coordinate benefits, data and lessen confusion for workers who might live in one state but work in another. The plan will further develop the best practices from existing state programs, unify policies and create a communication system to increase efficiency and accessibility.
“Regardless of party, Americans believe that Congress must act and support efforts nationwide to advance paid family and medical leave. The More Paid Leave for More Americans Act and I-PLAN Act will provide pathways for states to increase access to paid leave, exchange data, and support efforts to streamline best practices and meet the needs of the employees and employers both,” Houlahan said. “I am grateful to the partnership of Rep. Bice and my six other colleagues who join us in this introduction. We still have our work cut out for us, both on this bill and in the continued fight for paid leave for all Americans, but I am determined to keep pushing until we get to the very end and am proud of the immense progress we have made today.”
The U.S. is one of eight countries that do not provide paid family leave, and the first leap towards equal leave for employees came in 1993 with the codification of the Family and Medical Leave Act which allowed workers to have up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave. Since then, the fight for universal paid leave has continued with more family-forward policies being introduced during President Donald Trump’s first term in the White House.
The bipartisan Strong Families Act of 2017 aimed to encourage employers to provide paid family medical leave through tax credit. The Federal Employee Paid Leave Act of 2019 was designed to allow eligible federal employees to take 12 weeks of paid parental leave.
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