WASHINGTON– U.S. Senator Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-LA), Chairman of the Senate Paid Family Leave working group, today gave an update on his bipartisan Paid Leave proposal at the Joint Economic Committee hearing on Making it More Affordable to Raise a Family.
“This past spring, Senator Sinema and I announced a bipartisan solution to help working families, and I would say it’s currently the only common ground paid leave plan in the Senate,” said Dr. Cassidy. “I’m happy to report additional Republican and Democratic senators are now supporting and working with us on legislative text we hope to introduce this fall.”
Cassidy and Senator Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) released the Cassidy-Sinema plan, Congress’ first bipartisan paid leave proposal for American families. The solution gives new parents the option to bring forward their recently increased Child Tax Credit (CTC) to receive a $5,000 benefit, giving them flexibility to cover costs after having or adopting a child.
“For many dual income families, the first year following the birth or adoption is the most expensive, and subsequent years less so,” said Dr. Cassidy. “Just as the kind of context for our bill, the Tax Cut and Jobs Act bill…increased the child tax credit from $1,000 to $2,000. So under our proposal…the family who has the newborn child gets $5,000, and they pull forward that benefit from subsequent years, so instead of $2,000 in year two of life, we get $1,500, and on down until it’s paid back. We like it. It does not raise taxes. Payroll tax is inherently regressive. And so we avoid that. And it’s no mandates upon the employer or the employee. And it does not increase the federal deficit.”
Cassidy has also met with Ivanka Trump, senior advisor to the president, on multiple occasions, to discuss the path forward on enacting paid family leave legislation.
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