Trump's Paid Family Leave is All Smoke and Mirrors
Wrong. The paid family leave proposal in the Trump budget is all smoke and mirrors. The proposal would require states to cut programs that support working families, including Unemployment Insurance, in order to pay for parental leave. It also doesn't guarantee leave for same-sex couples, or provide paid leave to people caring for seriously ill family members. The plan falls far short of what hardworking families need.
Guardian: Guaranteed paid leave for new parents included in 2018 US budget proposal
Debra Ness, president of the National Partnership for Women and Families, called the proposal "phony and truly dangerous."
"A paid leave plan that continues the current state-by-state patchwork, only provides six weeks of leave when we have a clearly established 12-week national standard, guarantees leave only for new parents and is not funded responsibly would do more harm than good," Ness said in a statement.
Fortune: 6 Things to Know About President Trump's New Budget
"The Administration's plan does not address the issue in the comprehensive way that is needed for hard working Americans," Connecticut Democratic Rep. Rosa DeLauro said. "We need a policy that includes paid time off to care for a seriously ill or injured family member, which includes parents and children, as well as for workers who themselves have a serious health issue and for military families — not just for the birth or adoption of a child."
Quartz: Trump's plan for six weeks of parental leave would still leave the US behind 96% of all nations
Even if it were to pass—which is very much in doubt—the plan would still leave the US woefully behind of the rest of the world … Six weeks of leave would still be among the shortest durations mandated by any nation.
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[Trump's proposal] is expected to cost $25 billion over 10 years, funded through unemployment insurance, although the actual mechanism is unclear.
U.S. News & World Report: Trump Budget Cuts Medicaid, Funds Parental Leave
President Donald Trump's fiscal 2018 budget proposal cuts Medicaid funding, provides for a paid family leave program and is built on billions of dollars of shaky assumptions.
The blueprint, which will be formally delivered to Congress on Tuesday, adds new work requirements for welfare recipients and tax beneficiaries. It slashes food assistance and education programs. And it converts many foreign aid payments from grants to loans.
CNN: Trump's budget to include paid family leave, but may face trouble in Congress
When President Barack Obama pushed for paid leave in 2015, both moderate and conservative Republicans panned the plan.
"I don't think that sticking up for being a person with balance in your life, for wanting to spend your weekends in your home with your family ... I don't think that means signing up for some new unfunded mandate," House Speaker Paul Ryan told CNN's Dana Bash at the time.
The U.S. is currently the only industrialized country without a national paid family leave program, and Trump's plan will still leave the U.S. behind the rest of the world. His budget blueprint clearly shows the president does not value the future of America's hard-working families.
It's time for President Trump to work with Democrats and listen to the American people: to create meaningful change and policies to benefit more than just the wealthy few.