On Tuesday, Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., introduced the Federal Employees Paid Leave Act to give Federal employees 12 weeks of paid leave for the birth, adoption, or foster placement of a child within their families and for other medical reasons.
Similar legislation was introduced in 2017 and 2018, but failed to pass committee consideration. Previous versions of this bill also passed the Congressional Budget Office with a positive score.
The current version of the bill is co-sponsored by 12 Democrats–including House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., and Reps. Jennifer Wexton and Don Beyer, D-Va., who helped introduce the bill–but hope to receive Republican co-sponsors soon.
“Then I’m hopeful that the President will talk to his daughter. Because his daughter talked about this when she gave a speech at the Republican National Convention,” Leader Hoyer Said.
Currently, Federal employees are entitled to take six to eight weeks of sick leave, or 12 weeks of unpaid leave within a year of a childbirth or adoption through the Family and Medical Leave Act. Under the new piece of introduced legislation, both men and women will be entitled to the same amount of potential time off.
“Usually the Federal government leads, but on this one, we’re far, far behind,” Rep. Maloney said.
