The Congressional Record is a unique source of public documentation. It started in 1873, documenting nearly all the major and minor policies being discussed and debated.
“INTRODUCTION OF FEDERAL EMPLOYEES PAID PARENTAL LEAVE ACT” mentioning the U.S. Dept of Agriculture was published in the Extensions of Remarks section on pages E119 on Jan. 27, 2015.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
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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