House Democrats advance plan for paid leave amid dissent signs
WASHINGTON — House Democrats took their first steps toward authorizing 12 weeks of paid family and medical leave for most Americans, even as some of the party’s own lawmakers raised fresh criticisms about the speed and scope of their broader spending aspirations.
The vote in front of the tax-focused House Ways and Means Committee marked a critical, early milestone as lawmakers continue the grueling process of crafting a broader bill encapsulating President Joe Biden’s economic policy priorities.
The paid family leave plan could pave the way for most workers to collect at least twothirds of their earnings if they are absent for reasons including childbirth or illness, with additional sums set aside for lower-income families. The new federal entitlement aims to put an end to the patchwork system currently in place nationwide, opening the door for millions of workers to begin receiving aid that their states or employers do not pay today.
The provisions compose a central component of the still-forming $3.5 trillion economic package that Democrats hope can deliver sweeping overhauls to federal health care, education, immigration and tax laws. Lawmakers on the House’s top tax committee adopted the policy Thursday, along with an additional proposal that helps Americans save for retirement — two elements in a sprawling agenda they are set to tackle further in the days ahead.
“Our nation’s inadequate child-care options and lack of paid family and medical leave have prevented talented workers from contributing to our economy,” said Rep. Richard Neal,
D-Mass., chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, to open the debate.
The vote came on a busy day of marathon legislative sessions across the House, as Democrats raced to try to finalize their taxand-spending measure before the end of September. But it was not without its flare-ups, as moderate and liberal-leaning Democratic lawmakers continued to squabble over the size of the package and the speed at which they hope to pass it.
Rep. Stephanie Murphy, D-Fla., cast a symbolic vote Thursday against the paid-leave program and other proposals. Even though she said she supports Democrats’ broader spending efforts, she faulted the party for failing to explain how much the committee’s efforts would cost — and how lawmakers plan to pay for them.
A leader of one of the Democrats’ moderate-leaning caucuses, Murphy further laid into Democrats for racing ahead to try to adopt as much as $3.5 trillion in spending before the end of September, a deadline she described as “artificial.” And she teased potential concerns about its policy scope, saying she did not think “we can afford to do everything.”
Murphy’s objections did not threaten the panel’s immediate work on paid leave and other issues. But her concerns could foreshadow trouble to come.
The early votes Thursday marked only the beginning of a long journey for Democratic lawmakers, whose $3.5 trillion package would amount to the largest such tax-and-spending measure in U.S. history. A dozen committees are scheduled to hold their own gatherings in the coming days as part of a push by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., to conclude its initial legislative legwork by Wednesday.
As the House’s top tax panel met, another group of lawmakers focused on education gathered to begin discussing more than half a trillion dollars in its own investments — including a $450 billion plan to improve child care and offer prekindergarten to all children ages 3 and 4. Rep. Bobby Scott, D-Va., the committee’s chairman, said the spending would “transform our economy in ways that will make our nation more prosperous, equitable and fairer.”
House Democrats also unfurled plans to spend roughly $320 billion to improve public housing and help low-income Americans stay in their homes, a series of proposals that lawmakers led by Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif, are set to consider next week. So too did work continue on Democrats’ plans to try to lower prescription drug costs for consumers, invest anew in the country’s program to prepare for future pandemics and help millions of low-income Americans obtain access to Medicaid.
Much of the debate over health policy is slated for consideration next week, when the House Energy and Commerce Committee also hopes to consider billions in additional spending to combat the threat of climate change — including a program to pay electricity suppliers for reducing emissions while penalizing those that do not.
In bringing these proposals to early votes, Democrats have anticipated growing dissent within their own caucus. Moderate-leaning lawmakers including Sens. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., and Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., in recent weeks have sounded early concerns with the package and its potential price tag, raising the possibility that Democrats may have to scale back some of their ambitions to proceed.