[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 13 (Tuesday, January 27, 2015)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E119]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




       INTRODUCTION OF FEDERAL EMPLOYEES PAID PARENTAL LEAVE ACT

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                        HON. CAROLYN B. MALONEY

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, January 27, 2015

  Mrs. CAROLYN B. MALONEY of New York. Mr. Speaker, in his State of 
Union President Obama spoke about restoring the link between hard work 
and growing opportunity for every American. That link is at the very 
core of what made America great. And he spoke about the need to ensure 
that working families have a fair shot and a level playing field.
  One of the places that the United States continues to lag behind the 
entire rest of the world is in providing paid parental leave. The U.S. 
is the only industrialized nation with no paid parental leave. It is 
only us and Papua New Guinea in the whole world that have no statutory 
maternity leave. This is embarrassing and it hurts hardworking American 
families
  It is way past time to drag at least our federal workplace policies 
into the 21st century. That is why I am introducing the Federal 
Employees Paid Parental Leave Act to provide six weeks of paid parental 
leave to federal employees for the birth, adoption, or foster placement 
of a child.
  The federal government is our nation's largest employer and it should 
be setting an example--and leading the march into the modern era. Paid 
parental leave would be a big boost for the almost two million people 
who work for the federal government. And this won't just affect our 
nation's capital--86 percent of federal workers live and work outside 
the metro Washington, DC area. In fact, the metro region of my home 
city of New York City has the second highest number of federal 
employees of any region in the country.
  For these working families in New York and elsewhere around the 
country, paid leave is an economic lifeline. The growing costs of 
caring for a new child--the expensive diapers, bottles, baby carriers--
they all add up very quickly. The U.S. Department of Agriculture found 
that in the first two years a new child can cost families an average of 
nearly $13,000. Who can forego weeks of pay on top of those new 
expenses. It is both crippling and cruel to ask families to choose 
between a paycheck and caring for a new child when costs continue to 
mount.
  Providing paid leave helps pay for itself with the broad benefits it 
produces. It gives parents the time to bond with their child in those 
critical first weeks of life and research shows the critical nature of 
the first few months of life on the health and intellectual development 
over the lifetime of the child.
  To those who would push back on this legislation, I refer you to the 
Congressional Budget Office findings that this legislation is budget 
neutral. It costs nothing--but it means everything. It requires no new 
money but would immeasurably enrich the lives of federal employees by 
allowing them to maintain their salary during the course of FMLA-
permitted parental leave.
  I urge my Republican colleagues to support the bill. It passed the 
House twice before--with great bipartisan support. Now is the moment to 
bring this legislation forward and in so doing, bring America forward.

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