E&W Blog

Paid family leave allows working Americans to earn a living and pursue a career while caring for family members and loved ones. The Subcommittee on Workforce Protections held a hearing to examine how we can enhance efforts to support working families without imposing draconian federal mandates.

Subcommittee Chairman Ryan Mackenzie (R-PA) kicked off the hearing by highlighting Republican-led solutions like H.R. 3089, More Paid Leave for More Americans Act. 

“While there is no silver bullet solution to the many paid leave access challenges facing the American workforce, H.R. 3089 is an important attempt to coordinate state-level programs without dampening the flame of innovation with clumsy federal mandates. Together with policies like the paid family and medical leave tax credit for employers—which was made permanent through the Working Families Tax Cuts—these policies offer a commonsense roadmap for federal action on this issue,” he said.

Witnesses discussed how most employees are balancing caregiving and their jobs. 

“Paid leave…enables workers to address their needs while remaining attached to their jobs, supporting continuity for both employees and employers. As these workforce challenges become more common and complex, paid leave is increasingly not just a benefit, but an essential workforce infrastructure that allows employees to remain productive, engaged, and economically secure,” said Ms. Greta Kessler, Vice President of Employee Health and Benefits at the Marsh McLennan Agency, testifying on behalf of the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM).

Rep. Randy Fine (R-FL) explained how states are leading the way in paid leave policies. “[My home state of] Florida implemented a voluntary paid leave framework, it avoids mandatory payroll contributions, gives employers flexibility to participate through private options, [and] no employer is obligated to do that but employers can do it if they choose to do so as part of their wide-ranging employee benefits,” he noted.  

Rep. Mark Messmer (R-IN) asked witnesses about the need to address fraud in these paid leave programs. “By reducing fraud, [we can ensure] that the benefits are used by those who need them, and it also makes sure that [the proper amount of] taxes can be [used] to support the program,” explained Ms. Julie Squire, Vice President of Policy and General Counsel at the National Association of State Workforce Agencies (NASWA).

Ms. Adrienne Schweer, Fellow at the Bipartisan Policy Center, discussed with Rep. Mary Miller (R-IL) how lack of paid leave options is impacting families across the nation. “The average woman would like to have 2.6 children and she’s having 1.7. And when surveyed about [why], she says ‘cost of child care, fear of financial insecurity, and lack of paid leave.’ What we’ve seen over the last decade is states across the country in different ways increase access and provide programs for paid leave that are really helping reduce that anxiety that is holding women back from the family formation that they want to have,” Ms. Schweer explained. 

Bottom line: Republicans are encouraging states to lead in adopting public-private partnerships and expanding workers’ access to paid leave programs—making it easier for working Americans to balance careers and caring for loved ones.