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- Biden is pushing for paid family and medical leave in his budget proposal unveiled on Thursday.
- He also wants universal free preschool nationwide through a partnership with states.
- His proposals will likely be rejected by GOP lawmakers who have previously opposed those ideas.
Right now, the US is one of just six countries without paid leave. President Joe Biden wants to change that with his next budget through mandating time off — and making childcare cheaper across the country.
In his budget for fiscal year 2024, Biden is proposing establishing a national paid family and medical leave program, which would give workers up to 12 weeks off to tend for a newborn, recover, or care for a family member. It includes up to three days of bereavement leave.
The president is also urging Congress to mandate that employers give all workers seven sick days every year — an issue that's been particularly salient in major labor disputes, as rail workers were prepared to strike over sick time off before Biden stepped in and Congress voted to avert the action.
"Policies such as paid leave and childcare will bring more workers into the labor force and improve productivity," Cecilia Rouse, chair of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, said. "Investments in early education, mental health, and community college not only expand our economy's productive capacity, but pay dividends for generations to come."
Beyond 12 weeks of family and medical leave, the budget also seeks to ensure that families can afford to take care of their children, with $600 billion allocated towards making childcare more affordable and accessible. The proposal would enact universal free preschool nationwide through a partnership between state and federal government — and would allow states to expand that free, universal care to three-year-olds once all four-year-olds are able to access it. Under the plan, states would also be able to provide more care options.
Beyond the new investments, the budget will also pour billions more into current childcare programs, including Head Start — something some Republicans are eyeing cutting as part of sweeping "woke" budget cuts.
According to the president's budget, the Social Security Administration would facilitate the paid family and medical leave program, and it also proposes investing $10 million for the Labor Department's Women's Bureau to help states expand their paid leave benefits through various grants.
"Families need a little breathing room, and that's why the budget includes proposals to bring down the cost of everyday necessities," Shalanda Young, director of the United States Office of Management and Budget, said.
Biden has long supported paid family and medical leave, along with investments in childcare, and he has urged Congress to implement measures that would bolster those programs. During his State of the Union address in February, he told both chambers of Congress: "Let's also make sure working parents can afford to raise a family with sick days, paid family and medical leave, and affordable child care that will enable millions more people to go to work."
And Democratic lawmakers aren't giving up on the policies, either. In January, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand led 15 of her colleagues in urging Biden to advance a national paid and medical leave program in his budget, calling for $547 million in spending over ten years to guarantee up to 12 weeks of paid leave.
"For middle- and low-income workers in particular, access to paid family and medical leave is all too rare, but even the highest wage workers are more likely than not to be without paid family leave," they wrote in their letter. "When people cannot afford to take the time they need to care for themselves or a family member, working people, their families, businesses, and the United States economy suffer."
However, the administration's budget is more a list of priorities than proposals that will actually see the light of the day. The last time the Biden administration tried to push through paid leave — even at just four weeks — it was torpedoed by Republicans and one Democrat.