The needs of working families and caregivers took center stage in last night’s State of the Union address. We did that! Decades of building power with our Network at the state level and galvanizing that into federal power led to the inclusion of the comprehensive care agenda in President Biden’s 2024 State of the Union address. The President recommitted to a full care infrastructure including paid family and medical leave, and affordable child care in his speech, and we look forward to that being reflected in his forthcoming budget proposal.
Family Values @ Work’s Network knows what effective paid leave looks like. Our Network has led the way in establishing the standard for good paid leave that meets the needs of modern families with programs in 14 states. When we say ‘paid leave’, we mean comprehensive and permanent paid family and medical leave, with enough time to meet care needs, coverage for family, medical, personal, and safe leave, a modern definition of family, and adequate wages and job protection.
While there is currently plenty of bipartisan federal attention and enthusiasm for paid leave, we remain clear that working people and small businesses need real, comprehensive paid leave, not tax credits that end up supporting mainly big businesses, or privatized programs that leave out families who need this essential program.
We are glad that the President spoke about issues pertaining to working families. And our work continues to ensure legislative action to pass a federal paid leave bill in Congress. We urge President Biden and Congress to move forward making paid family and medical leave, paid sick and safe days, and affordable child care a reality for all!
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