In a remarkable change, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi revealed on Wednesday that four weeks of paid family and medical leave would be reinstated in the social spending measure after Democrats had previously removed the provision.
Paid Family and Medical Leave are reinstated back into the Social Spending Bill (Photo: ABC News)
Four Weeks of Paid Leave is Getting Back Into the Legislation
In a recently published article in CNN News, on Wednesday, Democrats and proponents for paid family leave won in their quest for a national plan, one day after holding a day-long news conference outside the Capitol to gather support for the issue.
After being deleted from the $1.75 trillion proposal because of concerns about the huge expenses of such a program, the suggested plan for four weeks of paid leave is being reinstated in the Build Back Better legislation, according to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal, D-Massachusetts, announced on Wednesday that paid leave had been re-attached to the bill.
Meanwhile, before it was removed from the bill last week, the provision had been cut from the initial 12 weeks recommended by President Joe Biden, angering activists who had been battling for it, according to a published article in ABC7.
Pelosi’s Letter to Her Colleagues
For months, Pelosi has said that she would only advance a measure that could clear the Senate. She hoped to save her moderates from having to vote twice, but that does not seem to be the case.
Pelosi announced the decision in a Dear Colleague letter, saying that paid family and medical leave would be reinstated in the bill, but that she is dedicated to only passing a measure in the House that can also clear the Senate.
Pelosi states “(Because) we must have legislation agreed to by the House and the Senate in the final version of the Build Back Better Act that we will send to the President’s desk, we must strive to find common ground in the legislation. As we are reviewing priorities and at the urging of many members of the Caucus, I have asked the Ways and Means Committee for its legislation for Paid Family and Medical Leave to be included in this morning’s hearing.”
Pelosi said that Democrats should not exclude popular elements just because Manchin is opposed to them, and that if she only brought a package to the floor that benefited the West Virginia Democrat, many more programs would be eliminated, according to the source. Pelosi has said that she wants the House to vote on the economic agenda measure, as well as a separate bipartisan infrastructure plan, before the end of this week.
