Pelosi Remarks at ‘Strong Families, Strong New York’ Rally Calling for Paid Family Leave
"Good morning everyone. Of all the kindness that Governor Cuomo has extended to me, following him is not one of them.
[Laughter]
"But it is an honor to receive his invitation and his introduction to be here with Jennifer [Jones Austin] and [Congressman] Jerry [Nadler] who have already spoken. I'm honored to be here with my colleagues in the Congress: [Congressman] Jose Serrano and [Congresswoman] Carolyn Maloney and our former colleague, Lieutenant Governor Kathy Hochul.
[Applause]
"The true VIPs here in addition to the families who will benefit from all this are the Members of the State legislature. We're in awe of you. So much of what happens rests on you. It's so wonderful that you're all here.
[Applause]
"It's an honor to be here with so many members of the official family of New York because this is really – to the family of New York – very, very important. Gov. Cuomo, thank you for your strong, progressive leadership of this state. To do so and this particular initiative in memory of your great father to whom family was everything: the family he grew up in, the family he and Mathilda raised – beautiful family – the family of New York, the family of America that we proudly identified with that he spoke about at the Democratic Convention in San Francisco, the family of the world. Mario Cuomo was always about family, and he identified family as each individual family, each individual person. And what our actions as public officials, what progress we made could only be measured in the progress that was made in the families of our communities in our state.
"So, it is appropriate that we are here to honor his memory, his leadership, his legacy and of course his son, Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
[Applause]
"This is also a part of the Mario Cuomo Campaign for Economic Justice which includes the appeal for raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour.
[Applause]
"It's so appropriate because as the Governor and others have said, and Jennifer said, whether nursing a declining person at the end of life, tending to a sick family member or welcoming a newborn baby, too many Americans face a harrowing choice: they are forced to choose between a day of work that they cannot afford to lose because they will not get paid and being there at the most important time in a loved one's life. That's why expanding paid family leave is a key pillar of what we in the Congress of the United States have been talking about and that is, ‘When Women Succeed, America Succeeds.'
[Applause]
"I accept the Governor's kind and generous words about my participation in the Family and Medical Leave Act. My role was really more to protect it. But I accept the compliment on behalf of all of the Congressional Democrats who worked so hard to put that on President Clinton's desk.
[Applause]
"So, in our ‘When Women Succeed initiative,' Democrats in Congress have put forth four key points: fair pay, equal pay for equal work, raising the minimum wage [and paid family leave].
[Applause]
"And who have been stronger advocates for that outside officialdom than our friends in organized labor. Thank you for taking the lead – all of you.
[Applause]
"Paid family leave, a key pillar of this four-legged stool. Pay, paid leave, affordable child care and strengthening retirement security for those later in life. Now, I just want to tell you this one story. In our ‘Women Succeeds' agenda, we've toured all over – we were here at Hunters College under Carolyn Maloney's leadership…
[Applause]
"Maybe some of you were there to talk about these four pillars. And when we were in Connecticut under Rosa DeLauro's leadership, the godmother of all of this, I invited a woman to talk about her personal struggle: a single mom who had a full-time job and was taking care of her family. We said, ‘Tell us your story.' And when she got up she said: ‘I'm not going to tell you my story. I'm going to tell you what I see every day as a school bus driver. I see moms with tears – parents, mostly moms, with tears in their eyes, and I know that they are going to put a sick child on the bus because they have absolutely no choice. They can't take off – they have no paid family leave. They can't take off a day of work because they can't afford to lose the pay, and as the Governor said, you take too many of those days off, and you don't even have a job. You don't have that job. They risk losing their jobs. They can't possibly afford child care. No paid leave, too low of pay to be able to afford to lose a day of work or to pay for affordable child care – no choice but to put a sick child on the bus. That's not good for that child, it's not good for the other children on the bus, it's not good for the classroom that that child will arrive at, it's not good for the United States of America.
[Applause]
"The greatest country – in our referencing the Governor – the greatest country that ever existed in the history of the world does not have paid leave, paid family leave. How could it be? The only industrialized country in the world that does not guarantee paid family leave. That is absolutely unacceptable.
[Applause]
"For us to grow our economy, this is even bigger – I mean, if you're just speaking from a pragmatic sense and not a personal way – for our economy to grow, this must change. California was the first in the nation to enact a paid family leave initiative, and we're very happy to see that in New York today – well, when it happens – but in New York City today, we're talking about even going past California.
[Applause]
"I say it with pride in the fact that we were first with six weeks, but now, you're going to even have a more robust plan with 12 weeks of paid family leave.
[Applause]
"We all know in our own lives – when workers have the tools to balance the demands of work and family and the other responsibilities, both work and home benefit. That's why we must fight for paid family leave.
[Applause]
"From coast to coast, we are shining a bright light on the urgency of meeting the needs of working families. Congress must follow New York and California's lead on leave – lead on leave, lead on leave, lead on leave. And we must in Congress pass the FAMILY Act, sponsored by Rosa DeLauro in the House, Kirsten Gillibrand in the Senate, to provide paid family leave for working men and women across America.
[Applause]
"Action is what all American families need. You hear these campaigns – these debates, as the Governor said, it's either a few minutes since or a few hours before the next one – and one of the big distinctions between the two, as the Governor referenced, is our attitude toward immigration. We, on the Democratic side are mostly all in agreement in the debates that I see between our two wonderful candidates, that immigration is the constant reinvigoration of America. Every immigrant who comes to America with hopes, dreams, aspirations, optimism, courage to make the future better for their family – that optimism is what America is all about. So, when those immigrants come, they make America more American.
[Applause]
"And in California, as in New York because we are similar in our beautiful diversity, we always say, ‘the beauty is in the mix.' Diversity is our strength. And many of the people who will benefit from paid family leave, from raising the minimum wage are just those courageous families, among others, that we want to help.
"So, here we are. I'm honored to be here personally, identifying with the Cuomo family and legacy and beautiful Matilda – who still reigns as the queen of New York – now the queen mother.
[Laughter]
"Action is what American needs in this regard.
[Applause]
"Personally and officially, I'm honored to stand with Governor Cuomo in fighting for paid family leave. Thank you, Governor Cuomo for your bold, forward-looking and effective leadership for all of New York's working families.
"Onward to victory for paid family leave and raising the minimum wage. Thank you."