[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 12]
[Senate]
[Pages 16975-16976]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                           PAID FAMILY LEAVE

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, for many decades the American people have 
heard that their elected officials and political hopefuls taught family 
values, but right now we need more than talk. We need Members of 
Congress to step up to the plate to help working families.
  Our country has fallen well behind the rest of the world when it 
comes to paid family leave. We are the only developed country in the 
world that does not mandate paid medical leave for workers. Think about 
that. The most industrialized and successful country in the history of 
the world mandates less paid and protected family leave than Malta, 
Slovakia, and Estonia. What does this mean for working American 
families? It means parents can't stay home and take care of their sick 
children. It means mothers need to rush back to work after giving birth 
to a child. It means working Americans have to choose between a 
paycheck and their family responsibilities.
  Right now the United States provides paid family leave for only 12 
percent of its private sector workforce. We are one of three nations 
without paid maternity leave: Papua New Guinea, Oman, and the United 
States. Those are the three nations without paid maternity leave: 
America, Oman, and New Guinea. That is really unfair, and it doesn't 
qualify as family values.
  I was pleased recently to learn that the new Speaker, Paul Ryan, told 
House Republicans his family is off-limits. I don't know if that means 
Friday afternoons or just Saturday and Sunday. He wants to spend more 
time with his family, and I applaud him for that. There were some 
people who mocked Congressman Ryan for that, and they are wrong. All 
parents should work to protect that time with their families.
  Here is the problem. For millions of Americans, the concept of work-
family life balance is nothing more than a fantasy. For far too many 
Americans, more time at work and less time with family is the only way 
to put food on the table and a roof over their heads. Still, these 
hard-working families are falling behind. An unpaid day off is out of 
the question.
  Contrast that with the Senate. The Republican-controlled Senate 
doesn't work 5-day weeks. Yet millions of Americans can't get a day off 
when a loved one dies or a child is confined to a hospital bed. If you 
play baseball, the average salary is more than $2 million a year. If 
your wife has a baby, you take off. But they make millions of dollars a 
year. Middle-class Americans don't make that.
  While Speaker Ryan insists on a family-friendly work schedule for 
himself, he is blocking legislation that would give the bare minimum in 
paid leave for hard-working Americans. Before we worry about ourselves, 
we should worry about the millions of Americans who can't get a day off 
work to care for a sick child--can't get a half day off work. That 
would be real family values.

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