Senator Murray has been a leading Congressional champion for paid leave throughout her entire career
Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), a senior member and former chair of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP), reintroduced the Family and Medical Insurance Leave (FAMILY) Act with Senator Kirstin Gillibrand (D-NY) and U.S. Representative Rosa DeLauro (D, CT-03). The FAMILY Act would guarantee up to 12 weeks of partial income for workers who have to take leave for serious medical and family events. Paid medical and family leave is especially helpful for new parents and older Americans, who are more likely to face health issues or have caregiving obligations for older relatives.
“When you are facing the grief and pain of caring for a seriously ill child, sitting in the hospital with a parent, or coping with a loved one’s cancer diagnosis, you shouldn’t be worried about how you’ll pay your bills if you take unpaid time off work,” said Senator Murray. “The FAMILY Act is about making sure no one has to choose between their job and being there for their family in critical times. I’ll never stop fighting to make universal paid leave a reality for every American.”
“Without universal paid leave, millions of Americans are forced to make devastating choices between their livelihood and the health of themselves or their families,” said Senator Gillibrand. “By guaranteeing up to 12 weeks of paid leave for workers who have to take time off for a major life event, the FAMILY Act will end these impossible decisions. I am proud to have led the fight for paid leave alongside Representative DeLauro for over a decade, and I’ll continue fighting for this program for as long as it takes so we can give every worker the flexibility and dignity they deserve.”
“Today, working families are stretched to the breaking point in this cost-of-living crisis, yet the U.S. remains the only industrialized nation without paid leave. Paid family and medical leave has been my life’s work since I beat ovarian cancer in 1986 and helped write the Family and Medical Leave Act with Senator Chris Dodd. But unpaid leave was never meant to be the destination – it was just our first step. The FAMILY Act is our next step forward: a national and comprehensive program that never makes Americans choose between their health or their family, and their paycheck,” said Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro. “I am proud to introduce this needed legislation with Senator Kirsten Gillibrand and with strong support from our Democratic colleagues.”
The FAMILY Act delivers a key solution to the country’s public health and economic challenges and is modeled on successful state programs. Currently, 73 percent of American workers do not have access to paid leave despite a large body of research showing that paid leave improves workers’ mental health, boosts employee retention and productivity, and helps businesses. Additionally, working families lose $22.5 billion per year in wages due to a lack of paid family and medical leave.
The FAMILY Act would provide workers with paid leave for a range of major life events, including:
- Recovering from their own serious health condition;
- Caring for a family member with a serious health condition;
- Bonding with a new child—whether newborn, adopted, or placed through foster care;
- Handling responsibilities related to a family member’s military deployment;
- Taking “safe leave” to respond to domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking.
From the moment she arrived in the Senate, Senator Murray has been a leading champion in Congress fighting to deliver on paid leave. After working to pass the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) in 1993 which guaranteed unpaid family and medical leave for all workers, Senator Murray has been working nonstop to guarantee paid sick leave to all workers. Murray has championed multiple pieces of legislation to expand and strengthen the protections of the FMLA, including the Caring for All Families Act, which would update the definition of family to ensure a broader range of caregiving relationships are covered by FMLA’s protections—and to ensure workers’ can take leave for small necessities, like a parent-teacher conference or medical appointment. Murray has also supported Washington state’s generous paid leave program. Senator Murray—a former preschool teacher—has long been the leading champion in the U.S. Senate for affordable child care, and she leads the Child Care for Working Families Act, comprehensive legislation that would ensure families across America can find and afford the high-quality child care they need.
In addition to Murray and Gillibrand, the FAMILY Act is cosponsored by Senators Angela Alsobrooks (D-MD), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Michael Bennet (D-CO), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-DE), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Chris Coons (D-DE), Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), Dick Durbin (D-IL), John Fetterman (D-PA), Ruben Gallego (D-AZ), Maggie Hassan (D-NH), Martin Heinrich (D-NM), Mazie Hirono (D-HI), Andy Kim (D-NJ), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Ben Ray Luján (D-NM), Edward Markey (D-MA), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Chris Murphy (D-CT), Alex Padilla (D-CA), Jack Reed (D-RI), Jacky Rosen (D-NV), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Brian Schatz (D-HI), Adam Schiff (D-CA), Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Elissa Slotkin (D-MI), Tina Smith (D-MN), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Raphael Warnock (D-GA), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Peter Welch (D-VT), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), and Ron Wyden (D-OR).
The full text of the bill can be found HERE.
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