U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) and U.S. Rep. Ann Wagner (R-MO) introduced a bill this week that would provide paid parental leave for American working families.
The bill would establish a national paid parental leave program within the Social Security Administration. Specifically, the program would provide partial wage replacement for workers who temporarily need to take time off from their jobs to care for a newborn or adopted child.
Wagner (R-MO) will introduce similar legislation in September when the House comes back into session.
“We are the only industrialized country in the world that does not offer access to paid maternity leave,” Wagner said. “My legislation will enable families to make their own financial planning decisions by expanding access to paid leave benefits without raising taxes, new mandates, growing the government, or hurting the economic opportunities of both employers and workers. This plan will not only lessen the challenges of being a new mom or dad, but it will incentivize parents to stay in the workforce.”
Rubio said the bill would provide a valuable service to families.
“What we’re offering is an option for working parents to take up to twelve weeks of leave when a new child is born, and to use some of their own money from their own social security benefits to help compensate for lack of a paycheck,” Rubio said. “So, let me tell you how this plan works. First, it allows new parents to be able to afford taking leave from work by giving them the option to basically pull forward a small portion of their future Social Security benefits that will allow all new parents to take two or three weeks or more of paid parental leave, at levels that for some cases will be at 70 or even 80 percent their regular income.”
He added that the purpose of the legislation is not to add a new entitlement or program to the government infrastructure. Instead, it is seeking to allow people to utilize an existing program properly. Furthermore, the legislation does not threaten the future of Social Security among other financial concerns.
“This proposal was designed to be budget neutral, and that will remain our goal throughout,” Rubio said. “It doesn’t raise taxes on a single American. It doesn’t place a single mandate on a single business in America. It doesn’t crowd out, it doesn’t replace, it doesn’t preclude employers offering benefits or the ones who have already been offered by employers, or by states, or by anyone else.”