In the newly proposed social spending bill, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi indicated that Democratic leaders planned to introduce an amendment that would include four weeks of paid family and medical leave. Two Democratic senators had opposed heightened spending, and thus this item did not make it into a downsized package.
Pelosi had written a letter to House Democrats to inform them, on Wednesday, that the Ways and Means Committee would consider an amendment to include paid leave in the Build Back Better proposal.
Richard Neal, Chair of the Ways and Means Committee, said he would do “whatever is necessary” to ensure that the means-tested program is signed into law and that taxes are collected from the package to “fully” pay for it.
Despite “opposition” from a senator whose name was not published, Pelosi said democrats “must strive to find common ground in the legislation.” It is highly possible that the unnamed senator was Sen. Joe Manchin, who has far opposed a paid leave program due to its cost and concern about fraud.
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The $3.5 trillion proposals, was earlier cut off after a number of weeks of intra-party discussion and negotiations. In August, the Democrats had pushed for developing a federal paid family and medical program for parental and family care plus personal illness which will cover a leave of about 12 weeks annually.
After back and forth negotiations with spending-hesitant moderates, US. President later revealed last Thursday, a fresh social spending proposal intended for “restoring the middle class” while also pushing off several Democrats’ policy priorities and discarding others to reduce the overall price tag.
Two years of tuition-free community college plus paid family and work leave were excluded from the proposal.
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However, the White House is yet to get obvious agreement from the Democrats who have rejected the big spending package.
Among the top senate in these groups are Sens. Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema who outrightly rejected the $3.5 trillion price tag.
