Transcripts For CSPAN2 House Oversight Hearing On Paid Family Medical Leave 20240713

[inaudible]. [inaudible]. [inaudible]. [inaudible] Committee Welcomes order. Good morning to everyone and without objection the chair is authorized to declare recess on a committee at any time. Withthat i will now recognize myself from my Opening Statements. I am honored to be convening todays hearing. My very first as chairwoman of the committee on oversight and reform as we continue to mourn the loss of our dear friend and colleague chairman Elijah Cummings and as i sit here today and as chair i am mindful of his Lifelong Mission to seek not only Common Ground but higher ground. With that in mind i am very pleased to hold todays hearing on an issue we have been fighting for for many years. The need for comprehensive paid family andmedical leave. It is important for people to understand the Current Situation in our country. Right now we are one of only two nations in the world that do not provide our workers with any form of paid family or medical leave. The United States and pound ginny. I remember when i was pregnant with my first child and i asked my offices about leave policy and do you know what they said . Leave, what leave . Women just leave. We expect you to leave and i said i didnt intend toleave, i intended to come back to work and they said its the only time its ever happened. That was an unacceptable answer then and it is an unacceptableanswer now for families across the country. There are basic and fundamental questions we need to face as a society. For example, if a young woman, a hardworking and promising employee was to have a child and spend a few weeks caring for her newbornshould she be forced to go without any paid Maternity Leave at all . Or should we as a nation finally recognized that having a child is a wonderful and predictable part of our employees livesthat we should support. If a fathers twoyearold daughter is diagnosed with cancer, should he be forced to take leave without pay and face unethical hardship in order to take his daughter to her chemotherapy treatments or should we as a nation do better by them. If a man who has dedicated his entire professional career to serving the American People has to help us care for his wife after a stroke, should he be forced to leave the workplace altogether . Or should we as a nation value him and his contributions . These are the questions that we as a policymaker must answer. We are the ones who make these decisions. I believe with all my heart that we need a policy that supports hardworking young women who are having their children, that supports the father in crisis who is caring for his twoyearold daughter with cancer and that supports that a dedicated husband who is helping his wife recover from her stroke. Providing benefits is a significant and important investment in our future. The future of children, parents, families and our future as a nation. Paid leave yields Better Outcomes for productivity, health of parents and children and longterm national stability. It also contributes to closing the gender wage gap. There are some who disagree. They opposed paid maternity and Maternity Leave and oppose any type of paid family and medical leave but we are making progress in this fight that has been over 35 years in the making. To give parents, caregivers who work for the federal government time to care for their newborns, Sick Children and other ailing members. Champions like former congresswoman Patricia Schroeder who is chair of the then house civilservice subcommittee started this important workforce efforts to respect parents and caregivers and help them balance the economic and emotional leads of having a family so they wouldnt need to choose between their family and their work. I have sponsored a bill for many years called the federal employee paid leave in previous versions of the bill passed the house twice but we have never gotten through the senate and signed into law. My current bill would provide women and men with 12 weeks of paid leave for the birth adoption or fostering of a child. For a serious medical condition or to care for an ill spouse or parent. The federal government is the nations largest employer and it should be a model employer for the nation. Earlier this year im very pleased that the house passed these provisions as part of the National Defense authorization act. When it went to the senate we were not sure if it would survive. We had been fighting for so long we did not know if it would finally happen but over the past few days an agreement was struck to provide for 12 weeks of paid leave for employees at all federal agencies when they have a new baby or adopted child. It if this agreement is signed into law it will be a tremendous victory for the more than 2. 1 million employees across the country. Parents finally will be able to have a child without worrying about their paychecks suddenly coming to a halt. Now, this agreement is not perfect. The senate refused to approve paid leave for medical reasons. That father needs to take his twoyearold child to chemotherapy treatments would not be covered and neither would the husband who needs to care for his wife, recovering from her stroke. In addition, this provision covers only employees. So it does not cover anyone working in the privatesector. We will continue fighting for the use youth americans in the months and years to come. Despite these drawbacks, this is an amazing accomplishment. Democrats made this issue a priority of our caucus. I want to thank speaker pelosi, the democratic womens caucus chaired by Lawrence Spear and frankel who have made it a priority along with the congressional progressive caucus. Chaired by polk and for their support and leadership. And i would also like to acknowledge representative jerry conley for his work on the issue. He is a tireless advocate, he held our committees for hearing in this congress on this issue. He has also been a tremendous negotiator. He is one of our committees conferees on the defense bill along with even lynch who is also phenomenal. Together they skillfully represented the interests of our committee , our workers and American People. In any negotiation with the senate that resulted in this victory. They also work closely with chairman adam smith on the committee onarmed services. His leadership and vision led to this achievement. As well as our partner in these efforts, democratic leader denny boyer. I would now like to recognize my good friend and colleague the gentleman from virginia, Mister Conley to get his Opening Statement i think the chair and congratulations on your first hearing, i believe as chairman. And but especially congratulations on the single victory, without your assistance and your tenacity, this would not have happened and as you said, the data isnt complete but this is a huge step forward, congratulations chairwoman maloney. In september our subcommittee Government Operations help first hearing at the chairwoman just indicated to even discuss paid family leave for federal employees, first during in years and again, it wasdue to the persistence of chairwoman maloney that we were able to have his hearing. I was honored to work with her to ensure that a provision providing five weeks of paid parental leave remained in the National Defense authorization act and it seems we were successful. But victory lap is somewhat circumscribed because there is still more work to do as the chairwoman just indicated. While weve secured paid parental leave for federal employees we must continue to fight for paid family caregiving leave and leave to care for ones own medical needs. Now is the time to catch america up to the rest of the world when it comes to paid family and medical leave. Leading businesses have long recognized that good paid leave policies, strengthen families and enhance recruitment and retention of a talented workforce area and its time allAmerican Families and our National Economy reap those benefits. I will continue to join with chairwoman maloney and others to fight for our nations fullservice and their right to paid family and medical leave. We want all americans to enjoy those privileges and those rights and as we stated when fighting to insure a parental leave in the end the aa , too many employees both public and private have no access to leave. When they need it most area and its time to take steps to ensure they have it. Family leave is not a magnanimous gift provided by on savvy employers. Data shows that paid family leave improves recruitments moreour productivity and retention. A 2016 survey by deloitte on the 77 percent of American Workers have said paid family leave which would sway their choice of an employer. Thats particularly important in an environment with five percent unemployment. After those surveyed would prefer family leave opportunity to a pay raise. And young study found that 80 percent of companies with paid family leave policies found a positive impact on employee engagement. And companies that institute paid leave policies earn less attrition of their female employees. A Rutgers University survey found women with access to paid family leave our 93 percent more likely to be working on year after having a child and those without such access. In short, paid leave is an effective incentive for all employees can be a pivotal one for women particularly in the workplace. With all of these benefits the United States remains one of the only nations in the world industrialized world that does not guarantee some form of paid leave. In fact in 2018 less than 17 percent of workers in our country had access to paid leave benefits through their employer and less than 40 percent had access to personal medical leave through employerprovided shortterm Disability Insurance. The lack of paid leave hurt American Families and the nations economy. If our country took steps we are advocating for today, creating policies that encourage women toparticipate in the workforce at the same rates as men , economists predict we would improve the nations finances by half 1 trillion in Economic Activity per year. By providing paid family leave to federal Civil Servants alone, the institute for womens policy research activated agencies could prevent 2000 650 departures per year among women workers. Saving 50 billion in annual turnover costs. In the United States 62 percent of twoparent families had both parents employed as astruggle to make ends meet. Three quarters of women with children work. Beyond childcare outside the home. Beyond childcare our nation is aging and the size of families is decreasing meaning more americans are and will be responsible for caring for older parents. Currently one of four virginia workers in my state is 55 or older, one in four in the next 15 years that share of virginia population over the ages of 65 is projected to grow by 30 percent, thats not untypical of most of the country. So were going to need tocare for our older Family Members and as a nation we need to take steps to ensure we are prepared for thosepopulation shifts. In virginia access the paid leave is even more concerning. For example in 72 percent of our household , with children all parents have paying jobs. 75 percent of homes with black moms in virginia those moms are the breadwinners. In homes with white latino mothers, moms are the breadwinners and nearly half of those owns. Yet 55 percent of our workforce does not have access to paid leave and even fewer have access to paid leave at all. Its time to change those policies. Having a baby, nursing your ailing dad or mom, sitting next to your sickteenager at the hospital, treating your own symptoms after radiation treatments for cancer, these are the most vulnerable moments for families. The pain and difficulty, these are the moments that demonstrate that we as Americans Care about each other. We need to enact policies to put Families First and its an easy step when italso makes economic sense. I think the chairwoman for her leadership and graciousness and i wish every success in our future endeavor. I yield back. Id like to recognize the Ranking Member mister jordan for his openingstatement. Let me congratulate you, its a big day for you and we appreciate that and wish you the best. We all miss our friend chairman cummings and we look forward to working with you and your team. We hope we can work, that you will work with republicans to root out waste and abuse in the federal government and pursue reforms that make our government accountable and in that vein before i get to our Opening Statement, there was a report released just yesterday by the Inspector General as you know madame chair and committee has jurisdiction over the Inspector Generals and the work they do in various federal agencies across our government and we were hoping that you might let us know when we would have mister horwitz in front of this committee to answer questions about his important and in many ways dating report on the fifa court and what took place a few years ago infront of that court , do youhave any idea when we might have that . The Ranking Members request for a hearing with mister horwitz is noted andwe will address that. I appreciate that, the purpose of todays hearing is to discuss proposals to pay federal employees for up to 10 weeks of leave and command various leaverequirements on employers in the private sector. I would like to note the best way to help those employers and employees through the country is to pursue policies that promote Economic Growth and job creation. Since President Trumps inauguration the administration and republicans have pursued policies do exactly that. Under the president leadership we have been successful. In the november jobs report showed our economy added 266,000 additional workers. 64,000 in the Manufacturing Sector and unemployment fell to an unbelievably low rate of 3. 5 percent. And i think thats because of the policies such as the tax cuts and jobs act which the president signed into law almost 2 years ago now. Because of our growing Economy Companies are competing for workers and voluntarily extending benefits for their employees. In our home state of ohio for example connor Construction Group from lebanon was able to double the number of itsemployees , offer bigger bonuses to its employees, give more paid time off to its employees and offer better healthcare benefitsbecause of the tax cuts and jobs act. Not because of any mandate from the federal government. I have concerns about several proposals we will discuss and we must consider the tradeoff from legislating a federal mandate for paid family leave like the potential for lowercase or reduction inother employerbased benefits. The federal government of course and freemarket principles are applicable. It is therefore up to congress todecide whether to expand a leave policies. Federal employees see annual salaries around 90,000. Federal employees total of compensation can be valued as much as hundred 25,000 and Research Shows that federal employees are paid more than comparable workers in the private sector. Before settling on a proposal that would tax , tictac sellers from Union Workers in ohio, to pay for leave for already well paid attorneys at the epa or the department of labor, the committee and the congress should do some serious factfinding. Its incumbent upon us to study the relevant information and make paid family leave necessary. Our lunch large number of federal employees completing their sick days for medical leave, you federal agencies have policies in place to substitute for paid family leave . Its a wellintentioned policy but we have an obligation to thoughtfully consider the proposals, need for the proposals and potential consequences and im grateful for the witnesses or testifying , im glad to see mister gloria with us today and we look forward to their testimony chance to ask questions and with that congratulations and i yield back. I wouldlike to welcome our first witness , were honored to have with us the house armed lead sponsor of the family ask, itll that would create universal comprehensive a family and medical leave workers across the country. Congresswoman rosa delauro has been a champion for workers for three decades. As chairman of the appropriation subcommittee on labor health and Human Services and education she leads the fight to expand opportunities to middleclass family and ensure our economy is working for everyone area that we are grateful for her tireless leadership and dedication to these issues. Congresswoman delauro, youmay now begin. Thank you very much for your kind words and while this morning we honor the memory of our colleague Elijah Cummings we offer our sincere congratulations to you madame chair on ascending to this position. I want to recognize and thank our Ranking Member mister jordan for welcoming here today and all the members of the committee. As members of congress, i believe its our duty tolevel the Playing Field. For middleclass families and for working people. Especially now, why now to mark people pay is a serious economic challenge that people have intheir lives. That pay does not keep up with the rising costs skyrocketing costs that they face every day. So it is sadly no surprise that very few could afford to lose weeks of wages, whether for an ill loved one or for the birth of a child. It would push them over the edge. In fact, 62 percent of working people cannot access unpaid leave under the family and medical leave act. According to researchers from brandeis university, either because they are ineligible for they cannot afford to. But those moments, regardless. In 1986, i was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. One to my employers and told him i was going to be hospitalized, and that i didnt really know whether or not i would be returning. My employer was senator christopher dodd. Senator dodd introduced what became the family and medical leave that same year but what he said to me on that day when i went into his office was rosa , go get yourself well. Your job is here, your salary is here. Just take care yourself. And with the support of my family and friends and by the grace of god and biomedical research, i recovered and have been cancer free for 30 years. Two years ago, my mother at age 103, im happy to tell you she served on the city council innew haven for 35 years. She was dying. I got to spend every day and every night with her. For six weeks. No one told me as a member of congress that i would not receive a salary, no one told me that my job would not be waiting for me. That was such a blessing in both cases. A blessing that cannot just be for Senate Staffers or for members of Congress Area the United States needs a national a leave policy to provide a time off are working people who are welcoming a new child, caring for a seriously ill or injured Family Member or recovering personally on a serious illness. Foreveryone , after three years of careful deliberation and coalitionbuilding , i introduced the family with my partner in the senate, senator Kristen Hillebrand and we did that in 2013 area it is the Gold Standard area that we have reintroduced it in every congress sense as we get earlier this year with 700 groups in virtually every state endorsing it. The family allows employees to receive 60 days or 12 weeks of partial income, 66 percent of their income. For a health condition, injury or sickness to a child, parent, spouse or domestic partner. The birthor adoption of a child. The injury of a Family Member inthe military. Or arising from a servicemembers deployment. It creates an independent and selfsustaining National Insurance on by having employees and employers pitch in together with payroll contributions of two sets for every 10 in wages. It is equivalent to less than two dollars per week for a typical worker. It would be managed under a new office of paid family medical leave within the Social Security administration. But it is an independent from Social Security trust funds so that it does not impact the solvency of Social Security. It has a record 201 cosponsors in the house and 34 in the senate. And it is bipartisan. As for similar proposals in the state. So far nine states including the district of columbia have paid leave programs area they go even further in terms of leave duration. Family members covered, wage replacement offered or employment protections. We can learn from these innovations. And we can learn from the businesses who support paid leave from the main Street Alliance to the american Sustainable Businesscouncil , close to 100 businesses or Business Leaders nationwide support the family and. It is no surprise that a 2017 study by the Boston Consulting Group found 250 Companies Offering paid family and medical leave recorded better ability better ability to attract and retain talent, higher productivity, more Diverse Company Leadership Teams and increase profitability. Considering the benefits of paid leave our families and from businesses, i am so glad to see that my colleagues on the other side of the aisle support this in some form. Proposals need to be not deal with harm because that would be unacceptable and many of the programs after a written force tradeoffs between the workers current self and their future self so being asked to get into their Social Security funds or their childs tax credits. Most only provide income for new parents, we applaud , we should provide support for new parents, the birth of a child is glorious. But income support for new parents is not enough. 75 percent of workers who take fmla, family and medical leave currently do so to address the Serious Health conditions of their own or of a loved one. So let us provide the paid leave that families and workers need and deserve, not only for Senate Staffers, for house staffers but, and not only members of congress but for everyone in this country to provide them with Economic Security. We need to alleviate the economic insecurity of middleclass families of working people. We must not only celebrate them , we must elevate them and we can do that with the family act. Thank you so much for allowing me to come beforethe committee this morning. Class thank you so much congresswoman for your testimony and all your efforts on thisissue and everything that you do for working families, thank you so much. And while the second panel is coming forward and the clerks are switching out the nameplates i will introduce our second panel. We are privileged to have witnesses on our second panel that bring a rich diversity of perspectives on the issue of paid leave. Jackie silvani is a teacher and navy veteran whose son joe was treated for a rare form of cancer in 2015 at the age of three. She is from New Hampshire and she will testify about her inability to access paid caregiving leave when her son was sick. Secondly we have vicki shabo, a senior fellow for paid leave policy and strategy at the think tank new america. She is a leading expert on national and state paid family leave policy and has researched extensively in this field. From 2009 to 2019 miss shabo led workplace policy initiatives at the National Partnership for women and children. The honorable robert asaroangelo is the commissioner of labor and Workforce Development for new jersey. He is responsible for administering new programs and will testify about how that Program Benefits workers and businesses in the state. Erin seyedian is the former founder of wellpaid maids, Home Cleaning Service in washington dc and boston that pays its workers a living wage and offers them a full benefits package including paid leave. He will share how being able to offer paid leave helps his employees and gives his Small Business a competitive advantage. Rachel greszler is a Research Fellow for economics, budget and entitlement at the Heritage Foundation and Jennifer Tucker is a senior policy advisor for black womens roundtable which is part of a National Coalition on black civic participation. She will testify about how the lack of paid family and medical leave impacts women and families of color. And if you would all please rise and raise your right hand, i will begin wearing you in. Do you swear or affirm that the testimony that youre about to give his the truth, whole truth and nothing but the truth so help you god . Let the record show that the witnesses answered in the affirmative. Thank you and please be seated. The microphones are sensitive so please speak directly into them. By the objection your written statement will be part of the record. With that, miss silvani, you arerecognized for your Opening Statement. Class good morning chairwoman maloney, Ranking Member jordan and members of the committee, my name is jackie silvani and im a proud member of moms rising. Im also proud to be a navy veteran, mother of three , a wife and a teacher offour greek students at epping elementary school. And here today because i know firsthand why our country so urgently needs a comprehensive paid leave policy that allows all workers to care for their families without risking their jobs for Financial Security area in june 2015 i was driving home from work when i received the kind of phone call no parent wants to get. My current twoyearold son joe was playing at daycare when suddenly of his face was red and sweaty while the other half was completelydry. His providers were perplexed. My husband and i rushed to the emergency room and the next morning after a 3 and a half hour mri, doctors told us our tiny toddler at a clementine tumor in his chest. Joe was diagnosed with stage iv neuroblastoma, a cancer of the nerve endings. Joe had bone lesions on his, spine, shoulder blade and fever. In a heartbeat our lives ranged completely. I had only one sock, i needed to save my childs life. Joes treatment started immediately and it quickly became clear that it would be long and difficult. Joe needed six rounds of inpatient chemotherapy, 20 rounds of radiation , stem cell transplant that decimated his immune system and required complete isolation and six rounds of painful immunotherapy. He has lasting kidney damage due to his treatment and developed a rare and severe consultation on transplant associated angiography that itself has a 20 percent survival rate. Over the course of his treatment he spent 210 days in the hospital. I was there with him nearly every day because most of all, he needed me. Having paid leave for at least part of that time would have made such a difference. It would have helped to alleviate the enormous stress my husband and i face, we could have staggered our leave and share the responsibility of managing joes care while collecting the paychecks we desperately needed. We wouldnt have to worry about our jobs at the same time we worried about our childs life but we did. When joe was diagnosed was no question that i needed to take time away from work but as a teacher, i have no paid leave you my sons diagnosis meantwe immediately lost a third of our income. My husband works at an auto dealership and had no paid leave either. He had his income was based on commission so while i managed joes care, my husband faced the enormous dress of working fulltime, doing all he could to support joe and me and becoming the primarycaregiver are two children. At the same time we want my income we face major new expenses. My salary was gone but we had to pay the corporate rate for our Health Insurance during my year of leave of absence at the rate of 1700 a month. There were healthcare costs that our insurance didnt cover, constantly taking joe for treatment in boston paying a lot for gas and parking, hospitals provide caregiver mail. We needed before and after school care for joes siblings including care over summer and School Vacations that was not anticipated and yet we still needed to pay our bills. Moving my income in the midst of this nightmare meant my sons medical crisis was also a financial crisis for our family. I willforever be grateful to the community that rallied behind us. Held fundraisers to pay our mortgage but because we had no paid leave we were under extreme Financial Stress at the same time we face extreme emotional stress that came with trying to see our toddler through this lifethreatening illness. Now 4 and a half years after his diagnosis im thrilled to say joe is a healthy secondgrader and just about the happiest kid you will meet. We often joke is bound to be a politician because hes so talented at engaging people. Perhaps one day he will sit where you do today. If so i know he will prioritize policy like a family medical leave casinos firsthand what they mean for families. While joe has recovered, my family is feeling the financial effects of my unpaid leave. My retirement accounts are gone and we are unable to contribute to my husband account. We are still bringing out as we support our three children yet we are the lucky ones. The emotional effects continue as well. When your kid is in danger you dont think about your own Mental Health. We live in fear that joe will relapse because the rate of reoccurrence for kids with the kind of cancer joe has is around 20 percent. I dont know how we would survive it again and i do know that if we had paid leave it would have been much more manageable. Often when we think about paid leave we think about new babies. I know some lawmakers have offered proposals that only addressleave for new parents. As a mom i know how important parental leave is what we need family leave to care for joe and policies that dont address the full range of caregiving needs not have helped my family and in fact it would have left us behind. No one plans for their child to get cancer, for a parent to have a stroke or to need surgery but those things happen to all families and thats why our country needs a comprehensive paid leave policy so urgently working people like my husband and me should be able to be there for our families in times of joy and hardship. I hope you will support the family asked, thank you miss shabo acutecare maloney and members of the committee and thank you, your story is incredible and as a parent i cant imagine what you have gone through. I want to offer my congratulations to you chair woman for your longstanding leadership on federal employees paid leave and the significance of march forward employees parental leave provision in nba is. It will make the government an employer of choice access to paid leave shouldnt depend on ones employer, their job or state of residence, whether theyre a traditional employee or a contract worker but today it does reedit 19 percent of workers have access to employerprovided paid family leave to care for a new child or an ill loved one area within individual workplaces, assets may be provided to the most highly paid and highly skilled workers but not others. This comes at an enormous cost and an estimated 20. 6 million to families in lost wages. 500 billion to the economy and lost productivity. More than 300,000 in lost income and Retirement Savings to adults who take time away from work to care for an aging parent, unknowable healthcare costs, seeking costs and opportunity costs. You must take action now but what action looks like matters. Haley must be part of a suite of investments in families, wages, work and care. A comprehensive national aid family and medical leave program must be equitable, exclusive and sustainable must provide working people in this country with the security of being able to care for ourselves and our loved ones and it should be designed to promote race, gender, Economic Equity and strengthen americas competitiveness. Right now the family act is the only proposal pending that meets this test. Its exciting to see support from the 200 cosponsors which are now Bipartisan Group and from advocates and businesses. This week a new collaborative call paid leave for all and a new Small Business coalition for me paid family leave are watching which is a testament to momentum and demand area, make three observations about potential bipartisan progress and the enactment of comprehensive paid leave and i want to provide context for action. First lets not forget the fmla was enacted after a nineyearbattle in congress, nine years. Took so long because opponents claimed the fmla would do substantialharm to businesses and the economy. Fortunately they were wrong and opponents admit that now. In state businesses that feared new family leave laws have found their concerns to be unfounded and they generally now support their state laws and business support for a national law is growing. The eight states plus new jersey, dc, with paid leave programs show that progress is possible. Most include features so that surpassed the family act in terms of the use of leave , Family Members covered, employment protections provided and most substantially and significant for this committee and for congress, laws with these enhanced features past bipartisan support. To me the states bipartisan process cautions against allowing congress and National Political observers to define what a possible policy is. We must not write off certain design elements. We should look to the states experiences to understand a program like the family act should be within bipartisan reach. Third its remarkable 80 percent of voters support a plan likethe family. Substantial majorities of voters also prefer the family act two approaches that would cut people out or force tradeoffs. Voters are also willing to contribute to a National Paid leave fund and to contribute more than it would require. This is true across party lines. Experience in states reinforces this polling theres never been a backlash against payroll contributions from individual taxpayers. So whats required in a National Policy . To achieve favorable outcomes , mens engagement in caregiving, child maternal and ill loved oneself, business benefits and taxpayer savings, a National Program must meet certain criteria and must include all fmla cover needs to create a policy thats likable for all working people regardless of their need , make leave available gender equally on paper and in terms of the policy parameters that make it possible for men to take leave, provide wage replacement to lower wage workers can use the policy without hardship and ensure meaningful duration of leave to account for the full component of health and care needs, permit caregiving for a range of Family Members to recognize that family care comes in many forms. The affordably and sustainably funded to provide certainty for workers and employers, including employment protections so that leave is safe to use and finally and most importantly as were finding from the research, building funding for worker and employer outreach andeducation to ensure effective implementation and use. Congress search for Common Ground solutions is exciting and long overdue but partisan efforts did not translate into watereddown legislation. Proposals that only cover new parents and failed to provide newrevenue can only be described as half measures. These approaches would exacerbate existing inequalities and would fail to serve the interests of women, people of color, people with disabilities and lowwage workers and they would also be ineffective at producing desired individual and systemic outcomes reedit its well past time for the United States to enact a National Conference of a family and medical leave program, the cost of the status quo are great benefits of the future that we can create together are much more substantial. States show us that a plan like the family act and work for the country. Its time for paid leave for all. Thank you, mister asaroangelo writing over jordan, thank you for welcoming me here today. Greetings fromgovernor murphy and the great state of new jersey. I appreciate you devoting your time to this issue or seven years i had the privilege of serving as a representative at the department of labor working on this important issue. I often use new jersey as an example and are pissed the lead on leave and now as labor commissioner im probably working on best practices in my own state , to support our workers and businesses, people who want to provide for their families and communities and people who want to contribute to our economy read every person in this room to be thinking about it myself included. Taking care of the people behind the job. New jersey is experiencing a Strong Economy and the more people that work in the garden state and ever before and in your record low. 2 percent Unemployment Rate but a Strong Economy does not mean we can rest on our laurels or assume economic benefits reach everyone equally. We have reinforced our commitment to family leave in our state and we celebrated the 10th anniversary of family leaveinsurance and the 70th anniversary of temporary disability. These programs support our workers by acknowledging caregiving as an integral part of American Culture like most states have a significant generation, the workforce is taking care of children and aging parents and relatives. In new jersey theres no doubt these programs work as a publicly funded insurance program. For seven decades our programs was funded by employers and employees, providing a framework for our worker funded fm i program that has recently been expanded to zero cost to employers. By offering this wage replacement and a universal comprehensive and inclusive way were ensuring all our workers are here and have the income they need. Those least likely to have benefits offered privately tend to be younger, female and have less access to education savings and those who receive at least some pay. Thats why programs like ours are so critical. And as labor commissioner i know when family strive, the economy thrives which is why this year we passed a law expanding family leave. Governor murphy reminded us when he signed the bill no one should ever be forced to choose between earning, caring for a Family Member and earning a paycheck. Research shows employers care about the wellbeing of their staff and we now have 11,000 businesses operating our state than we did when fmla went into effect including yearoveryear growth of our Small Businesses in a competitive economy these programs leave employers from providing benefits without increasing cost. Leveling the Playing Field for all businesses competing for talent large and small. Paid family and medical leave programs save employers money by reducing turnover and training costs when they lose staff to a temporary situation. According to the american Sustainable Business council, productivity increased from 3. 5 and 6. 5 percent once they leave policies were implemented. An Employer Association of new Jersey Survey found that average time it took employers to assist with their workers claim was about an hour start to finish and that was before we made improvements to reduce employer side paperwork. This is good policy and good government. The murphy and ministration learns from best practices to make informed changes. To recognize the structure of families today is more diverse than in the past. Therefore our programs must also involve so the caregiving obligations families face today. Weve expanded coverage to include children of any age, siblings, grandparents, grandchildren, domestic partners, any individuals related by blood or who have the equivalent of a family relationship. Weve expanded coverage to victims of violence and the law permits these victims to claim benefits you can access the care they need to focus on recovery and safety and these improvements are that start as of july 2020 even more are coming. We have double the maximum benefit for workers to claim up to 12 weeks for caregiving or bonding. We have increased the weekly benefit rate from 6685 percent of the workers average weekly wage which according to this years numbers will be hundred 81 per week. And finally, our program will allow workers with morethan one job. Take leave from one employer while continuing to work for another. The true chosen maker most vulnerable populations aware of the rights, protections and programs available to them and ensuring equity at axes. That is what we formed office of strategic outreach to let our Community Know about paid family medically as well as artistically but other recent improvements to new jersey law. If you would like information. Todays testimony, our website is worm were you easier fore to understand the rights and benefits available to the. I encourage you to visit nca paid leave works in new jersey. Were making the economy stronger because it is becoming fair. Thank you for your time and attention. I look forward to your questions. Thank thank you much. And mr. Seyedian. Thank you, chairman maloney, Ranking Member jordan and members of the committee for having me here today. Im a member of the main street allies and the founder of wellpaid maids, a living wage Home Cleaning Company that operates in the d. C. And boston areas. All of our employees earn 70 and out and receive a full benefits package on day one. This package includes 22 paid days off per year, health, dental and and vision, 100 Employer Paid commuting cost him 100 shortterm this book entries. Unlike many clinic copies we only hire w2 employees cannot independent contractors which means all of our employees receive unappointed insurance, Workers Compensation insurance and are eligible for overtime. By offering consumers and ethical alternative in an industry where antiworker practices are rampant we hope to up our workers by providing good paying jobs with decent benefits. At the same time we aim to all the workers by bolstering the case for policies like a minimumwage thats a living wage, paid sick days and the subject of todays hearing, paid family and medical leave. Im eager to see paid family medically enacted at the federal level and as a Small Business owner i can tell you this guys not going to fall on employers if Something Like this is enacted, not just for federal workers but for the private sector. Based on own experience i think paid leave is not only affordable for Small Businesses but its extremely beneficial for them as well. First on the subject of costs, im skeptical of any employer who would claim that paint into the paid leave programs going to threaten the viability of the business or force them to laugh employees. My company is to spit in the rampup for massachusetts and d. C. Paid leave programs and theres theyre not that expensive. D. C. Is a casa program and its. 62 payroll tax on pages way. Thats around 20 a month per employee. From my perspective any employer that cant put an additional 20 or 30 a month per fte doesnt have a viable business or Business Model. Furthermore someone who provides shortterm Disability Insurance to its employees i can tell you the state and local programs which we are currently participate in all offer comparable coverage to any Small Business can update in the private market but at onethird of the cost. Its obvious why. By running this type of Ventures Program as a public good instead of a private profitmaking entity, cost can go down for the folks who subscribe to it. In addition to that reduce cost the state programs we are going to be participate and also include family. Shortterm Disability Insurance is just for personal medical issues. In addition to bring affordable i believe paid family and medical leave at the federal level be extremely beneficial to business. This isnt a cost to bear. In my own business i reaped a lot of gains from the benefits that a mentioned earlier, shortterm disability being one of them. In the cleaning industry the typical model is basically misclassified workers, pay as little as possible and worked them to desperate my Company Takes a opposite approach and think there are great reasons for doing that. In every market we operate and we offer the best compensation package. If you take care of your employees they will take care of you. The reason my employees are happy hardworking and dependable is because we have a benefits package including paid leave that respects the reality of everyday life. We know people get sick, deep love babies. They need vacation, et cetera. When you show employees you have the back, they have yours in turn and multiple witnesses have mentioned a litany of studies that indicate all the benefits this is experience by offering paid leave and other benefits. In closing a proud to be a Business Owner coming here today to speak in support of paint and some medically and im happy to articulate it in business terms. Based on the structure of existing state and local programs we are participate in, from my perspective its not going to cost all that much and it would generate positive outcomes for everybody. I think the crucial argument for National Paid family medically program is its the right thing to do. Too often we reduce everything to the logic of the market. Sometimes thats fine. Ultimately though i think paid family and medical leave is more than an appointment issue. How we decide to support each other when the worst happens this test of National Character and they believe we need to come to terms with the fact currently are policies pretend its normal for people to fall into avoidable financial ruin when the worst happens, or for people to return to work two weeks or less after having a baby. Where theyre not we as policies to ensure people can take that off to be with her newborn children or care for a sick spouse is a moral choice and i Hope Congress will make the right choice by extending paid family medically not just to federal employees but to all employees. Thank you for the opportunity to testify and i look forward to your questions. Our next witness is ms. Grasso. Good morning and thank you for inviting here today. As amount of section children and also with both my own mother and my grandmother diagnosed with cancer in recent years i understand the need to take leave. Families are the foundation of society and to think its important they be able to care for one another. We also have to recognize that paid family leave as costs and consequences. A Government Program cant erase those cost. They can only redistribute them. Voluntary employerprovided policies work better because they can balance workers and employers need at minimal cost and consequent is. Providing the more flexible and often more generous policies than one size fits all Government Program could. Yet a federal Government Program would crowd out these policies just as they are starting to expand even further. Most notably, many lowwage workers have gained access to employ provided policies over recent years. Everyone here today agrees its these lowwage workers that we want to help most. I wanted to share a story about a low income Refugee Families that my own family came to know and love recently. This family welcomed their fourth child about a year ago, a sweet little baby boy. As they left the hospital, what should event a sweet homecoming to them, they returned and their belongings were all outside on the sidewalk. They had been evicted. The father needed a a job, they needed a home. They needed food for the children and his mother needed a place to recover. Paid family leave was the last thing on their minds. If a Government Program i been there it would event of no use to them. Neither parent had been in a job long enough to qualify for leave, and a partial benefit would not have been enough to make ends meet. Thats why im so concerned by the family act and other government proposals. The experience of government run paid Family Programs across the world is that they redistribute money from lower income earners to middle and upper income earners. In california, five times as many workers in the highest income bracket file paid leave claims as though in the lowest bracket. Canadas program is that you access the class and inequality and eight in the social reproduction of higher income families. In the uk, quote, too little support is direct to do those families that need it most and too much to those who do not. In new jersey, quote, the states paid family policy puts many workers below the Poverty Level and pushes people who are already struggling deeper into poverty, end quote. An attempt to reverse these traits have failed. San francisco tried by enacting 100 benefit replacement and yet low income mothers were still half as likely as higher income to receive government benefits. Moreover, a recent Economic Analysis of californias program found that it reduce womens employment and earnings as well as their fertility rates. This is the opposite of what we should all want to achieve. Instead, policymakers should seek progrowth policies and other measures that can do more for low income families and for all families. The Strong Economy and our 50 a record low Unemployment Rate have produced large wage gains and those gains have been the strongest for low income workers. Those who make less than 25,000 a year gain about 1500 in additional wages last year. In low income black women gained about 2400. Thats enough to finance a 23 and 55 weeks of paid family leave, and if those workers dont need the leave, its their own money to spend or save as they please. Moreover, the tax cuts and jobs act has added 1400 to the typical family household. More companies are adding new and expanded paid leave benefits because of those tax cuts. Policymakers can build on these gains by helping generate leave options that meet workers and employers unique needs with the cost they can afford to the working families flexibility act would give low income hourly workers the choice to accumulate paid leave is exchange for overtime work. Universal savings account are letting workers drop another taxdeferred savings would be particularly helpful for independent, parttime and temporary workers. An increased private Disability Insurance is another way to meet workers only needs. Considering upper trains and efficient and flexible employerprovided paisley programs is also highly regressive nature of existing Government Programs, policymakers should avoid enacting a new federal program and instead focus on giving workers more income and flexible to choose what works best for them. Thank you. Thank thank you, and our last witness is ms. Tucker. Good morning. Chairwoman maloney, Ranking Member jordan, and members of the committee, many of you support paid family leave because you care about valuing families. Likewise many of you are committed to promoting racial and gender equality. Im here today to connect the dots because lately is an essential way to build such equality. When the fair labor Standards Legislation was passed guaranteeing minimum pay, hours and protections, an agreement with seven segregationists excluded domestic and agricultural workers. Not surprisingly, lack women and other people of color today are less likely to have access to paid family and medical leave. I sit before you this morning not only as a Public Policy professional, but also as a caregiver, twice having experienced life in the sandwich generation. My younger daughter was barely walking when my mother was diagnosed with parkinsons disease in her late 60s. I was her primary caregiver. Then, too, my sister who lived with a chronic illness her entire adult life after a lupus diagnosis as a teen, she just celebrate her 48th birthday the day before she suffered a serious bleed on her spinal column. Both of our caregiving experiences were for chronic conditions that lasted for many years. Each had a common crisis period associate with them that required all of my attention and that of several Family Members. We survived because we had financial resources, paid sick and vacation days, and the support of family that many people dont have. It taught me that a catastrophic accident or illness can happen to anyone, and all workers deserve time to care for themselves, their families without economic devastation, physical exhaustion or so much stress. I know many black women who have little or no paid leave time. Black women earned only 71 only 61 cents for every dollar earned by white nonhispanic men. Only 54 of black workers have access even to unpaid leave under fmla, and many women who do cant afford to use it because 84 are primary or cobreadwinners for their families. Black women face a devastating Maternal Mortality rate. Four times higher than that of white women. We need comprehensive paid family and medical leave to combat these and other disparities. But how that leave program is structured matters. We must ask, will it reduce or increase ratio and gender inequity . To be inclusive, a paid family leave needs and must have coverage for all workers and all need cares, offer a meaningful duration of time, reflect the diversity of families, guarantee job protection, provide adequate and progressive wage replacement, and the sustainable sustainably funded and cost effective. I thank you for your time and your commitment to ending racial and gender inequality. Thank you so much. The chair now recognizes the distinguished congresswoman, ms. Thank you very much, madam c. And again i congratulate you on assuming the chair and on the achievement of your federal paid family leave act. No wonder this is your first hearing. Id like to direct my questions first two mr. Seyedian of course does business in the district of columbia, to congratulate him on giving a living wage to all his employees and what looks like a pretty full package. Now, youve been in business only three years, right . Just over two years. But you do business in well, massachusetts has, massachusetts and d. C. D. C. Doesnt quite have yet come right . No. So both are are in the rant but period. So youre competing with businesses that do not offer family leave of any kind, i take it. There are many businesses in the district of columbia. Correct. So my question really goes to your bottom line. And that is, how are you able to grow . Are you growing . And compete with others who dont offer anything like the package you offer their impact i need to to find out more about yours so we can consider bringing you into our home here in the district. Yes, thats a great question. So the basis has been around for just over two years. As we look at closing off this calendar year, basically we will have doubled in size from our first full year to our second full year. Were going to do around 600,000 in revenue this year which we think is pretty good for business of our size and our age. To your point, we have grown quite a bit, so were at 14 employees. We are still hiring in both the d. C. Area and the boston area in fact, we have somebody find up to boston tonight to hire a few more cleaners in that market. In terms of how we compete, its really through customers who are attracted to what were doing. Were not just a one cleaning services or 4star cleaning services. The people use our company are really excited about our wages and benefits. Thats why theyre willing to choose us versus a competitor. Thats a great message to anyone he was thinking about the different possibilities in the economy for high road model, which is customers really crave it and so i think that so if theres a state law, such as the upcoming law or the law in new jersey, does that make it more affordable to remain in business and to compete with others in business . You are doing this on your own. Youre competing with others who dont have to do it. You say you are making a profit. Absolutely. What difference would it make to the state law . Its going to make us more profitable because the amount of money we pay right now for shortterm Disability Insurance, which we use is basically kind of a stopgap version of paid family medical leave because folks can use it to tend to the own medical absences. The shortterm Disability Insurance that we buy is more costly than the Public Program are going to participate in in d. C. By being able to cancel our shortterm disability policies and participate in the public plans we will save money and it will make us more profitable. I want to ask ms. Shabo, and paid family leave, would you give us some indication of whether or not unpaid family, that while we passed some time ago, has benefited anyone . Do people take advantage of when they dont get any pay . Who is it that takes advantage of it . The family and medical leave act which is now 26 and half years old certainly has benefited some people. The reality is that for people who cannot afford to take leave, thats the number one reason why people forgo an needed leave, is they cant afford to take unpaid leave under the fmla. The folks who have benefited from the fmla are just force a higher wage, professional employees who might have some pay or cobble together vacation or sick time. There are huge disparities and you have access to unpaid, and to be able to afford to take unpaid leave. Thats why paid leave is so critical. And for lowwage workers you heard ms. Greszler argue that with all of these policies, lowwage people dont take advantage of the. Why is that . What were learning from this space is both about how the policies need to be designed to ensure lowwage workers are able to afford to take the leap that is available and effective programs they are paying into. We have learned a lot about the Community Based outreach and the partnerships needed, the materials needed to make come to inform lowwage workers and their employers about the policies available. I want to quickly say, i have looked very closely at the working families flexible to act, the savings account, the Social Security proposal that is floating out there, even the cdc proposal, and theres no way a a lowwage worker is going to benefit from any of these things. We are 40 of workers in this country who dont have 400 for an emergency fix dents. The idea they can contribute to a savings account is unthinkable Emergency Savings account. To take peoples ability to work more than 40 hours a week to take the comp time, time at half and trailed off time for that. They need those wages. They are lowwage workers. In looking at the way the state programs are funded, they are affordable. They can be accessible. We need two design them with equity in my and echoes to the weight replacement rate, the chopper jacket that should go with them and the hours and education thats needed to make sure workers know about the rights, are able to assert those rights and then the i. T. Systems that provide for the timely processing of applications and payment. Thank you very much. The chair recognizes congressman price. Thank you, madam chair. Likewise lets say congratulations to you on your first hearing. We certainly wish you the best as you lead this committee, so congratulations. Ms. Greszler, i would like to come to you. We hear a lot about the support of the National Paid family leave and medical. And i get that. That sounds wonderful but we all know at the end of the day theres nothing free and at some point this has an enormous cost associated with it. You brought that up in your Opening Statement. Id like to hit on some of that if we can, whether were talking higher taxes or increased debt, lower benefits, fewer promotions for women. Theres a lot of costs associated with this. Once those factors are put into play, sometimes we hear as much a 74 of americans favor this type of legislation, but when the costs associated with it are added, the popularity of this drastically begins to drop off. Could you elaborate on some of the details of some of these tradeoffs . Yeah, there is broad support for a paid Family Leave Program if you just ask that question. But they need to get into what are the tradeoffs, if you asked are you going to pay 450 a week, fewer than half of americans are willing to do that would you get into trading all spinning on current programs which with the tight type defie have now, you would have, you would have less support to an workers as are you willing to trade lower Social Security on education and other, only 21 are willing to support a federal paid Family Program. Its important to note what will the cost be . We dont really know the state programs have been so underutilized. The new jersey only 1 of people who are eligible for the kerry giving benefit use. 12 of parents who are eligible for the benefit use it. It appears cause could be relatively small. In reality if you have a federal program and you have companies that start canceling their current policies and shifting costs onto the federal workers, then the cost of the program will not be a cup of coffee a week and i dont see low income workers by cups of coffee week because they dont have that to give it up. More like its going to be a take of gas instead of that. The American Action forum has estimate upwards of 1500 from the average worker to have paid Family Program and as as a note those lowincome workers are not going to be able to use that program. It sped off to let them have that money and use it best fit for the thomas burr i would think also it would impact the tax rate in states that implement this police in some states. Are you aware that . If you have a federal program . Yes. They would have to choose whether or not they keep their existing program which be a nightmare for businesses try to forget which one theyre going through. But yes, when you have a federal program attacks it would start of relatively low and grow over time. Ive talked to some insurers in new york and they go through a private insurance market. They said we are in the business now but we cant stay in the basis unless they increase the tax rates. They wont be able to provide the policy. You also mentioned the impact of the tax cuts punjab act and how that, obviously the boom in the economy, record low unemployment and all this that it out there. I know several businesses, many business in my district and hundreds of them across the state of georgia that are voluntarily offering multiple benefits from higher wages, some benefits and leave all sorts of things because they are more profitable. So can you talk from a National Perspective have tax cut has affected private industry and how that really, if its your opinion, is more effective than a National Stamp . Of course. It provided huge resources that the employers can now use to meet their employees demands and above those employers surveyed and said what would you like what they wanted more benefits, particularly paid family leave and thats what weve seen this huge growth in those policies and everyone is pointed out today, its in and up was best interest to pay these policies. Youve hired retention. Its very costly to replace the worker. They will stay there longer, e happier. Employers know better than policymakers and bureaucrats whats in the best interest, and the best way for them to offer those policies is to have the resources to do so in in a flee way. A onesizefitsall policy does not work for 28 million different businesses across the u. S. , or 159 million different workers. You need a policy just as ms. Dolor delauro communique, e had a policy that wasnt standard. Wasnt a formal policy but it worked. Something her employer, difficult at the time were allowed to provide with. I would love to see more of that. Not having the employer have to say go to the federal government, youre going to do with the bureaucrats and they will tell you what you can get, but rather by the work with you. I want to keep you on as an employee and want to make this work and lets see whats flexible and work works best for you. Thank you for your testimony. I yield back, madam chair. Thank you. The chair recognizes Debbie Wasserman schultz. Thank you, madam chair. My congratulations to you as well. Many years of service on this panel and im very proud of you. Thank you. Got to serve with you as well. I have had personal experience both with giving birth to all three of my children who become one of whom is now a teenager and the others who are juniors in college. Giving birth to all three of my children while working very fulltime. I gave birth to all three of my chill while serving in the state legislature, and running for congress with my third child. About 12 years ago, some of you know i was diagnosed with breast cancer, sadly at 41 years old. When did the picture of health, the next day a cancer patient acing my own mortality. Because i had this job, because i am in charge of the employment policies of my office, i was able to take the kind of leave like i was in the legislature because i didnt have anyone other than my constituents to and should do and i was able structure my worklife balance in order to make sure i could care for my newborn babies after they were born, and make sure that i could get myself well, all while managing the demands of a very demanding job. Not nearly most people dont have the luxury that ms. Delauro and i and all of my colleagues here have had. Research has shown women with incomes of 75,000 per year or higher take an average of 12 weeks of Maternity Leave while mothers in households with incomes of less than 33,000 a year frequently only take six lesson six weeks of leave. Ms. Greszler, i find it troubling that you used the very tired argument that one size fits all doesnt work for most employers. I want to start by asking a few questions. I understand from your Opening Statement that you have six children. Were you able to take Maternity Leave for each of your children . Yes, i was fortunate to be able to take leave. And how much maternity were you able to take for each of your children . I chose to take 12 weeks with each and i different policies at different times. Were you paid . I was paid at least part and often fall. And was it important for you to spend that kind of time with peace of mind knowing that your salary at least in large part was covered during that time . Absolutely. And do you think of the parents with value and benefit from that time and still . I do. And they think they would value most from policies that a flexible and let them work with her employer to determine what is best. Do you support a minimum wage . I think that we should let the market determine what is the appropriate wage. But to support a minimum wage or do you think we should not have one size fits all policy and just let the market pay anyone anything they choose to . No, i think a federal minimum wage, particularly 15 minimum wage spitters im not asking about a 15 speeding i dont live in a in a onesizefitsall policy. Excuse me. Reclaiming my time. Do you believe in the minimum wage . No. Not at all . You think we should require employers to not allow employees to fall through the holes without a minimum wage . I think that we should let workers work in whatever way they choose and aggression with her employer. That tells us all we need to know about your views. You said you dont think a onesizefitsall program works, but most people in america dont support a one size fits all wage because we know what kind of poverty people would be thrown into if thats what we allowed. You have to offer on japan is nothing at all for millions of americans, and some often the more affluent will be lucky like you were but many more likely, 80 of workers in fact, will not. I dont buy your argument it is too difficult of a National Standard that will work for all of our citizens. We must make sure that women, parents, have the benefit that i had, that i could choose to have, regardless of the income, regardless of the employer. We do need a floor to which were not going to allow people to crash through when they have unexpected illness or give birth to children that every parent, regardless of income or employer, deserves to be up to work for someone who is required to give them a minimum of paid family leave. Thank you. I yield back the balance of my time. Madam chair . For what purpose does a gentleman i have unanimous request to submit four articles of, four different covers that because of that tax cut bill are providing family leave. I have south wire to pay without objection. Without objection. Ive seen the article. They can go in the record. Thank you i know recognize mr. Grothman. Sure. I have a couple. I guess there was irs data was done to do a study of californias 2004 paid family medical leave and it is assessed on womens careers. I like come here for my with the study . Id like you to elaborate on it and what we can expect to be the effect on womens careers, more prescriptive family medical leave law . So there was a reason somewhat groundbreaking study in california. This study was different from others because they were able to obtain irs data suspender reporting and you had more than twice the sample size of previous studies. What they found comparing women who had maybe six months after when California Family leave post was enacted, those who utilize the benefit afterwards compared to those who did not, those women had 7 lower employment rates and 8 lower earnings. Oddly, their fertility rates were low as well. They did find are spending more time at home with their children as as a result of that paid family leave law. In other words, what youre showing me is there are unintended consequences of this law that only came out with a comprehensive review of tax returns . Correct. Okay. Right now federal government is a hodgepodge of 43 different paid leave days, correct . Yes. Federal workers have 13 days of stickley. I can roll over every giver you can use 30 days of advanced sickly and they can also access paid sick leave pool. Could you explain how that compares with the private sector right now . I think on the average the private sector knows they have for paid sick days is about ten. Vacation days, similar about ten, two to three weeks were asked the federal government offers three to four weeks. Okay. Could you speculate maybe thats and everything to do that california study intrigues me. Could you speculate why, i guess i think of the memos of the panel consider unexpected results . I i think women taking more time off, staying home with children, some of the make the decision very going to spend more time at home. Maybe the only went back and a parttime capacity or the state out of the labor market entirely. You also at higher income women that are using those benefits. We saw its not as well available to low income women. They dont know about it. A partial benefit doesnt let them pay the bills. Theres more fear about discrimination or their the jot being there. It has to do i think with the different usage rates and also the decision women choose to make. Could you comment in general as far as the number of high income versus low income women . In california i believe they had five times as many people in the highest income bracket compared to the lowest income bracket for women the using the program im not sure across the board with the figures are but consistently everywhere thats what we find and thats what im most concerned about and i would like to reiterate, ms. Wasserman schultz, i agree we should be looking at the impact on lowincome individuals because thats we all would like to help. What im trying to point out is that these policies actually dont benefit the low income individuals. They tax them and then theyre not able to use it. I would love to work with everybody in this room to see what policies would benefit those low income workers. We get briefings on this and every thing is focused on the women, the women, the women, which is good. Could you give us that is true. Any analysis on the mans side can we give him another five minutes . It is important, but because i think people can look at this as just a parental leave any Maternity Leave that actually four out of five leaves are taken are for workers own illness or caregiving. Theres not a lot of evidence at least in the statebased programs but generally speaking Government Policies encourage more meant to take Maternity Leave but he get its the upper income earners that are more likely to take it. Are there any statistics you can get from the california study on how this impacts men . Yes, i could share those with you after the hearing. And i as well have some articles i would like to submit to the committee. Is that okay . Thank you. We reviewed them. Without objection. I now recognize congresswoman kelly. Chairwoman maloney, i want to say congratulations to you and i look forward to you being the chair. Get a lot of rest and relaxation in between. We often think of paid leave as being important for new parents but its just as important for workers who need to care for a a sick child, spouse or relative or for themselves. When your son was diagnosed with cancer in 2015 you take unpaid leave of absence to care for him. How did his illness impact your family . How did in his illness impact my family how didnt his illness impact my family . He was very sick. My other two children did not know is going on with their brother. Once joe was out of treatment, my children needed Mental Health support. I didnt have paid leave at that time either to help them deal with their brothers illness. So to not have that time to be able to take care of our family as a whole was very hard for our family. So the sickness of one impacts many people. Of course. Hopefully im saying the name right, is it mr. Seyedian. Thats fine. You started a Small Business with the goal of treating your employees better. You paid them a living wage, comprehensive benefits including paid family medical leave act i understand you also had a personal Health Crisis that motivated you to start a business with this goal. Can you talk about how your concussion set you back and a difficult it was to address your own health needs . Sure thing, yeah. A few years back when a work in consulting i sustained a concussion. I wasnt able to work primarily because staring at an upright screen, reading words, all the counter stuff is prohibited when youre trying to recover from head injury. I ended up taking more than a few months off of work. I was able to do so because of the kindness and benevolence of my employer and they are forward thinking and having a disability policy in place. Likewise, the same is true for my own employees at wellpaid maids but ultimately this kind of thing should rest on having an employer that is thinking forward about Something Like this or is kind of enlightened on the subject. Ms. Tucker, turning to you, you mentioned that you serve as a caregiver for your mother and your sister while raising a family. What does access to paid family medical leave act for communities of color whose families are more likely to be intergenerational and his members are more likely to take on caregiving responsibilities as a result . That is so correct. Our families are more likely to be intergenerational. And paid family leave would mean that families would have a cushion, and ability to take some time with that, even with that reduced salary to do what they need to do with their ill Family Member. We know that a quarter of young africanamerican millennials between the ages of 1835 our caregivers. And many of these caregivers are earning 30,000 annually. I believe this is because they are in jobs that allow them to take care of the Family Member. So this means that they are earning their earning power over the lifetime is stunted starting at the starting gate. Thank you. Thank you for sharing your stories. Many people across the United States can relate to them. Dealing with a medical condition or Health Crisis is scary and stressful and they can always be financially crippling without losing your income. I know when it entered congress, i represent the second Congressional District of illinois, and i do rate of foreclosures in my area because of health care issues. According to a recent, 42 of new Cancer Patients lost their entire life savings within two years because of the cost of treatment. Ms. Shabo, how does a lack of access to paid medical leave compound, how much has already cost workers when they or the thump members are sick even when have insurance . And also when my colleague was asked a question, you kind of made a face. I did know if you wanted the opportunity to respond, to the answer. Im not sure which question that was but i have lots of facts and opinions. On the point about the caregiving, there was a fantastic new Study Released last week by the National Alliance for caregiving and carry across generations which showed that more than half, i think threequarters of people who are caring for both lovely and a child are gen x, which of my generation. Im dealing with this myself now, or are millennials. After thinking about how to we provide for the Financial Security and stability of this incredibly important cohort of folks that are going to be with us and our workforce and in our commutes for a long time, how do we make sure we are not highly on medical debt, lack of access to paid leave, student debt, high housing prices and wages that are growing . How do we make sure, the Research Tells Us when Cancer Patients have Family Member that is taking them and evolved in the treatment when workers themselves are dated with a cancer diagnosis and able to take treatment of recover, they are more likely to get better, more likely to get better, more like the to go back to work. The cost savings around healthcare and the access to paid leave our interrelated and delete this is a feature of this whole conversation that doesnt get talked about very much. But certainly medical debt, healthcare costs, these could be alleviated with better access to paid leave so that caregivers themselves to get care. Thank you and i just back the time i i dont have. The chair recognizes mr. Gohmert. Thank you. I want to graduate you on your new position as chairperson to this committee. I think im confident that all of us in congress on both sides of the aisle are sympathetic to those families who have children and those families who are put in a terrible position of having to be caregiver for other Family Members. I also think that in congress those of us who represent extreme levels of poverty, who are also sympathetic to the working poor. I represent southern kentucky, so my district is very fast. I represent the eastern part of the state that has apple lash of it i represent the far west and part of the state that has the Mississippi River delta, two of the poorest regions in america. We have countless stories of working poor, struggling to provide for the families. Im very sympathetic to that i want to help the people that i represent that are doing everything right. But there are two schools of thought to how we proceed to help these working families. The first school of thought has been elaborated by colleagues on the left. More government solutions, government mandates, increased minimum wage. These are plans that have been in place for decades, and they really havent worked. And they really havent served those areas of extreme poverty in my Congressional District. Theres another school of thought that i feel like weve tried to employ over the last three years in washington, and thats more of a marketbased solution. Where we focus on trying to grow the economy. I believe if you look at where we are today, weve been very successful with the passage of the tax cuts and jobs act, with President Trump and this, the last congresses efforts to focus on burdensome regulations to try to get the government out of the way to grow the economy, to provide more opportunities for all americans. And we have a situation now where we have maximum employment in this country i dont think anyone would disagree whether youre the most liberal member of congress, the most conservative member of congress that the biggest complaint we hear from our complicity is they cant find workers. The economy, the one thing thats holding the economy back to date is the fact that his assist and employers are hesitant to invest Additional Capital because they are not confident they can find workers to fill those positions. So we have a situation where we are having maximum employment which is led to wage inflation. This is something thats happened to the market, not through more, loss, not to government mandates, wage inflation. And, ms. Greszler, i want to ask you, how do you feel that the tax cuts and jobs act has impacted employers and families . Well, weve seen on employers said they are able to raise wages and benefits and offer more jobs. Id like to highlight just in the last month we heard over the last year the group of marginally attached to workers and those who are discouraged who i think a lot come would apply to let injured in your d, that fell by 25 in one year. Thats because their job availability and its not just lowwage jobs. Its one that provide high opportunity. In my opinion those workers are far better off being handed 1500 in wage gains over one year when to earning 25,000 salary and having the, take that same take the same amount and tell them they will provide himm with these benefits when you might not benefits that they want to have. I agree. According to the society for Human Resource management, 20 of employers in 2019 offer family did on what is required by fmla. This represents a 6 increase of the prior year. Do you think this trend will continue . Exactly. Were on this upward trend. The Strong Economy, that tight job market me to voice have to get beat and this valley in it of offering those benefits because they can get the workers they need and retained it. This is not the time to stop that upward growth spurt. I agree. I will conclude by saying this, madam chair. I think when we have a situation like today where we have maximum employment and employers are competing for employees, the businesses that take the best care of their employees are going to win the battle of the best employees. I feel like we are on the right track in america, and hope we can continue the progrowth agenda that is led to unprecedented prosperity, but theyre still lots of pockets of poverty in america. Lots of families that are struggling, and those are the people that we certainly need to focus on. I think the solution is marketbased solution. Madam chair, i yield. The chair recognizes represent the lords, one of the cultures of the womens caucus that prioritize this issue. I want to thank you, madam chair and congratulations for its wonderful to add a man, i mean, a woman to this caucus, this committee. Also want to thank you for being a champion of this issue. As stated, i i served, have an honor to serve as the bipartisan and democratic womens cochair for this congress. The issue of paid family leave is something i hear frequently about. Ensuring that women and family and parents have the ability to preserve the Economic Security while continuing their employment in this country. One of the things that troubles me, ms. Greszler, is an oxymoron. You are saying because of this tax cut that many workers have not received, although there has been a tremendous increase in pay just talk owners of boards, if they have more money it should be quite to embracing providing paid family leave. You stated one of the challenges we have, because poor and minority families struggle the most with being in the sandwich position of taking care of a sick child and taking care of of a sick parent. But what is something that is not being talked about is that for women, Maternal Mortality rate in the United States is one of the highest in the world. One of the major contributing factors to that is the lack of childcare, because women do not have the flexibility to take off from work, to attend all the prenatal care. The reality, if im making eight dollars an hour, and how dare you say dont support 15 an hour, because if you dont you are stating that poverty in america should be a reality. How, how can we as a country o consider ourselves so great, embrace a philosophy and a standard that impoverishes people in america . And women are the Largest Group of those who are impoverished by this lowwage rate in america here thats one issue. The second issue is that when we as a country understand that the only way that we increased the population in this world is through childbirth, and that there is a need for a woman to be able to take time off, and god help her if she has a child who sick. And so after the birth of the child continually having to care for the child, that can be the father, the mother, a samesex couple, all of the issues that goes with caring for a sick child. We as a sophisticated major force of democracy in this world should not be one of the last to say that every person working and trying to provide for the family, regardless of the income, do not have access to paid family leave. I want to ask the question to mission shadle. How many workers across the country cant have access to paid family and medical leave benefits . So to date night of workers have access to paid family leave 19 . How current is that . March of this year. So march of this year a big, amazing fix all they cut happened. Did that have a major increase on providing this benefit to American Workers . No. And, in fact, more to the point of lowwage workers, over the past five years with the access increase from 13 to 90 overall, such 6 increase. Among the lowest wage workers its gone up by two points. Among the highest wage workers its got up by 12 points. We are saying the divergence in access to benefits actually increasing exponentially. So this idea that the tax cut or any other factors related to employment and a con is going to lift the vote for the lowest wage workers just isnt borne out by the data. Id like to point out, in the date of the congress decided that 20 have access to benefits, that means 80 dont. I am very concerned about the 80 . Im extremely concerned about a 94 of lowwage workers, and that is what we should be focusing on. And the idea that any of the half Measure Solutions or solutions that are rude and austerity rather than in new investment just doesnt play out in terms of peoples access to the benefits we are looking for them to have. I want to close your time has expired. May i and the next witness is ms. Miller. Thank you, madam chairwoman. And thank you all for being your today. Ms. Silvani, i want to express my empathy to you. There is nothing more frightening than when one of your children is sick, and a glad little joe is doing so much better. The topic before us today is multifaceted and extremely personal. Likely, the issue of leave has impacted each of us. Our spouse, our sons and daughters at some point in our lives. To the enactment of the tax cuts and jobs act we have seen businesses not only increasing the pay of workers also increasing benefits such as family leave. The president and his administration have worked to cut regulations to ensure a more prosperous economy. It is amazing to see the positive advancements that happen when we read businesses from over taxation and burdensome regulation. Madam chair i would ask unanimous consent to offer a study about californias paid family leave. Represented crossman mentioned it and i think its important that it should be included. Without objection i will object but i will ask that we be able to see that. Absolutely. It has not been give us to us i certainly have no objection. Okay. Without objection, so ordered. Thank you. Weve seen the unemployment decreased the 3. 5 . 3. 5 . We now see employers competing to find good workers. How has the Strong Economy under President Trump impacted the benefit packages that companies can now offer . Well, not only have we seen more people have availability to jobs, and you can have a good benefit package until you have a job, but seen a large increase in the number of Companies Offering pay family and medical leave benefits come more than 100 large employers have now come out offering these benefits and these matches the upper tiers, the consulting firms. These are the lows, the targets, the starbucks that typically employ lower wage workers who now have access to these paid family benefits. You mention regular unemployment is providing opportunities for marginalized workers. Can you expand on that. Was yes. And this is why i want to iterate the Strong Economy is better than Something Like imposing an excessively high onesizefitsall minimum wage. The evidence has shown when you impose high minimum wages, you crap out the employees who are the least marginalized and those who have the hardest time finding a job. Its the lower rung of the latter that gets cut off and those workers have no opportunities then. On the other hand, if you provide progrowth policies that let employers have more benefit to offer to create new jobs, they have opportunities to trauma workers into labor force and thats exactly what weve seen. Weve seen people who were disabled before, who were discouraged and just give up on finding a job and now there are hundreds of thousands of them that have jobs that are supporting themselves and that have the benefit of seeing that paycheck that they get as opposed to rely on a government benefit. Thats kind of an intangible value to them to provide for themselves and have and of chod flexibility over what they are doing with their money. Thank you. You also discussed how wage growth has helped contribute to reversing income trends contributing to any quality. Can you elaborate how the current economy has done this . Yes. I just wanted to point to my written testimony there because i think there is, based on the recent jobs report, you know, im coding here from the council of economic advisers that said from the start of the current expansion to the end of 2016 the average wage growth for production and nonsupervisory workers lag that of managers. The bottom 10 of wage earners lag that at the top percent. Those without a College Degree lag and africanamericans lagged white america. Since President Trump took office each of those trends has been reversed contribute to low income inequality and these of the types of progrowth free market policies that are bringing the bottom end up and the people of been marginalized before, theyre benefiting the most from this and its not having the government come in and tell them they will provide them with a benefit and take more of their money away so they dont have these choices. All it does is let privatesector workers have access to the same thing that state and local workers have. If you work overtime hours, would you rather take pie time to half of paid leave or pay . That time off is a lot more valuable in many cases than just having a higher paycheck. There are other things we can do to encourage among employers. I was thinking of my brotherinlaw and my sister in law. She is a schoolteacher as well. They had a daughter that was born weighing eight pounds. They had to have extended time off. She was an hour away from where they were. Other workers were volunteering. I would love to see more employers saying the womans time has expired. I ask unanimous consent to yield one minute to representative lawrence who wants to thank her constituent who is on the panel. I want to say that it is very important that we understand the role of government and to thank all of you for coming out in each role that you play. I count on government for a number of things. To say that we do not need government to intervene on and issue that will be transformational for the quality of life of americans is something that i feel very strongly about. I have a dream as well for this great country. I try to keep hope alive. I know i have to take action and do the work. It is clear that only a comprehensive approach like the family act will protect our workers. I urge all of us to support it. Thank you. The chair now recognizes ms. To leave. Thank you, chairwoman. I appreciate this hearing. A very important issue for my district. I really do appreciate your leadership on this and for this to be one of your first ever Committee Hearings on house oversight. I want to clarify something that members had pointed to. A recent study on longterm effects of californias paid leave program. Lowered employment and wages 10 years later. I would like to ask you about this specific study. I do not want people to mislead the public in regards to this. I look at studies, pulling. Sometimes it does not match up with what is happening on the ground. Where there any limitations to the scope of this study so that we can have the facts before us and not make any misleading comments . Yes. Absolutely. This study is interesting. It is an outlier. Showing an increase in laborforce attachment and earnings over time. What is interesting is it studied the very first cohort of women that took leave. The Third Quarter of 2004, specifically. Followed the earnings over a fiveyear period and a 10 year period. There may be something unique and special. There also may be different effects so when the California Law first went into effect, less than 15 . Of all the claims taken, 15 of those. Now we are close to 40 . There are trends in gender equity that have changed. We do not know how that study would be if it was repeated. There have been other studies conducted of california mothers that joe paid leave had a positive impact on the workforce. Yes. Correct. Latina women and lowwage women. It is not right to focus everything on this one particular study. The other thing is we need to think about how we make policies accessible for men. How we pair childcare. Better access to childcare for parents. How we think about parttime parity and the wages and benefits and opportunities for people that do choose to work less than fulltime. The other limitation as it did not include self employment income. Into a less formal employment relationships that they could spend more time. We do not know the effects of those wages or the income on their outcome. Thank you. I do appreciate that. Trying to bring people in this room that are not here physically. Many residents in my district cannot afford to come here or to speak because they are working right now. One community of caregivers often left out of the paid family leave conversation our families with disabilities. I want to shed light to the unique experiences for many of those experiences. A mother of three. One of her boys was born with liver disorder. After receiving a liver transplant, his mother started working as a server to help provide for her family. Very up front with her employer about having a child with special needs. One particular day after this employer let her leave to take care of her son, she was was forced to Prioritize Health for her son and left her shift early which resulted in her getting fired. Her son takes eight medications daily and goes to the hospital at least once a week to check his liver blood levels. If the u. S. Had an exclusive paid leave policy, not only what it keep my resident mother with a job, but she would have been able to confidently work without her livelihood being threatened. On a regular basis. Can you elaborate on difficulties that families with special Needs Children have, but, also, this is something our country needs to look at, this is a form of discrimination, that mother may not be the one with the disability, but the fact of the matter is, the discrimination towards her because of the loved one and the fact she is a caretaker, i think it needs to extend and protecting those caregivers. This is a form of discrimination. I consistently was always asked as a young person applying for jobs whether or not i would have children which was illegal. I do think, you know, people will push forward and say you have a child with special needs, i will not hire you. If you could talk a little bit about that, i would appreciate it. A couple of really good studies out there about the multiple impacts that affect parents and other caregivers to special Needs Children and people with disabilities. Income, expenses and lack of access to leave. The other thing that strikes me we think about policies that would exclude those families, we hear a lot about onesizefitsall policies. The ultimate would be a policy that that only applies to new parents and not to all the people that need leave for their own Serious Health condition. To say that that caregiving is less beneficial or less worthy just strikes me as the ultimate discrimination. Thank you. Congresswoman presley. Thank you, adam chair, for Holding Holding this critical meeting. Working families across our country. I want to thank the congresswoman for her steadfast leadership and for sharing her story earlier. Which we know is the story of millions of americans. It is appalling that the United States continues to be one of only two industrialized nations in the world. It is shameful. This reality continues to place undue burdens on families already struggling to make ends meet. Households disproportionately led by women already struggling to get by. Lingering gender and racial pay gaps. Policy is out of touch with the fact that at some point virtually every person, every working working person with a hardship does not discriminate. We need to take time away from a job to fulfill caregiving responsibilities, to recover from a serious injury or disruptive life event. While i was a caregiver with my mother and her leukemia battle, making decisions by the hour on how to extend her life, battling cancer while also battling bill collectors along with the trauma of such a devastating likelihood. It was if seeing my mother facing her final days with not already hard enough. My experience is not unique. In fact more than 34 million caregivers who provided unpaid care to a parent or relative in the last 12 months alone. Thank you so much for sharing your story earlier today. Can you share about the daytoday carrying of your mother. I can. You know, it was tough. It was tough to try to make the arrangements that we needed to make for her care. Especially as she aged because this was over a 10 year period. It was tough finding doctors who she felt comfortable with. Having, being a part of the the generation, having a child who would come with me every day to the nursing facility that she spent her final year in because she got to the point where she needed care. I remember one time my daughter saying to me, do we have to come every day to see granny . Well, that was pretty devastating. It was tough dealing with the financial aspects of this. My mother was a retired teacher so she had some savings and she had a monthly income from her retirement and from her Social Security that lightened that load. There was nothing easy about it. I was on my own to find the resources that we needed each time she had a crisis and we needed to go to the next level of care. Thank you. It is my understanding that you also cared for your sister after she suffered a severe spinal cord injury as well. How did you manage being a caregiver for both your mom and sister and how did this impact your financial situation and are you still recovering . A lot of questions there. Lucky for me, these illnesses, these events did not occur at the same time. My sisters accident or bleed occurred five years after my mothers death. We had time to kind of hang out before she became really ill with her spinal cord injury, which is what it was. When i think back on it, i dont know how i did it. I just found the resources that i needed to do it and i was in a place where i had the flexibility with work to do it. I had vacation and i had sickly. I am one of those people that is always at work. I had accumulated a lot of leave that allowed me to pinch off the three hours i needed to go to the hospital before coming to work. It was a patchwork of using leave and thinking it through. In terms of support, i had a supportive family and a supportive spouse at the time that help to make it easier. I was in a two income household that help to make it easier. It meant that i was up late looking at the numbers for trying to figure out how we would make it happen. We almost used up all of our, my mothers savings before she passed away. Thank you. Thank you. The chair recognize thank you very much. Congratulations to you on your first hearing. I know that this will be an important memory for you the way that it was for chairman cummings when you have the Prescription Drug hearing as his first hearing of the new congress. I wanted to just go back to this question about the tax cuts. Some of our colleagues suggested that the trillion dollar tax cut for the wealthy corporations and people has provided paid leave benefits to workers. I know there was a limited temporary tax credit for employers who provide two weeks of paid leave built into the legislation. Is there any evidence that this trillion dollar tax cut is actually made a structural difference in peoples ability to get the family medical leave. Not that i am aware of. Certainly not in my experience. I do not feel the effects of that law, i would say. Okay. Is there anybody that has any structural evidence or data at this point about whether this tax cut suddenly transformed things . I am getting the report that millions and millions of americans are still without family medical leave and it is a crisis for people. And totally and talking to Business Associations and Business Owners, service data from ey which asked Business Owners my favorite is that the only company that i know of that set in the press that they expanded their leave policy is rollsroyce. Let me stick with you for a second. I have three children along with my wife and the apple of our i, i consider profoundly meaningful to be in parenthood. Im a cosponsor of the legislation. I do get questions from constituents. People were concerned about the environment. Should we be as a sub society when we have concerns about population. And concerns about climate change. What is the argument that you make about the importance of this. Not just those of us who have children, people for whatever reason choose not to have children. Part of the reason which covers all of the caregiving is there some people that will never have children. Everybody had somebody that they need to care for or may need to care for themselves. The wellbeing of children. We know access to paid leave brings development and child outcomes. It means children are more likely to be taken to the doctor to get immunizations. There is a study from california about reduced head trauma. There is a study about reduced adhd. People will have children anyway. We need people to have children anyway. What we need to be able to do is invest in those families and those children so we provide the best possible opportunity. What are the specific benefits a new mother gets under the paid parental leave policy . Access to 12 weeks of paid leave at 66 of our wages. Having access they have higher rates of breastfeeding, reduced rates of maternal depression, Maternal Mortality and other adverse outcomes. 23 of women in this country go back to work within two weeks of giving birth, still bleeding in some cases. It is just outrageous. His impression this is all about women, women, women. What about fathers . Fathers have access to paid leave under the family act. We know some practices. We know men want to be able to take leave it there there cannot financially or they feel like the culture is holding them back. Theyre more likely to be engaged in their childs care over longterm. When men take access to leave, womens wages actually go up over the longterm. This is about enforcing or creating new standards about gender equity at home and in businesses. Also about the wellbeing of that child. Thank you. What kind of impact does it have on the families in your state to make these kinds of efforts available . A Tremendous Positive impact. I hear from folks every day. From workers and businesses. What it means to them to have this stability. To hear the story and think about that going on every day to not have the support of your fellow workers, your state, your employer could be devastating. We mentioned about every employer looking for more more workers. We need to be there to help provide for them. Thank you. I yield back. Thank you. The chair recognizes the distinguished member mr. Jordan. Thank you. Our colleague from maryland trying to point out it had no effect on the amazing economy. 266,000 jobs that were added just last month alone. 54,000 jobs in manufacturing to my colleague from maryland. Unemployment at 3. 5 . 5 is a lot higher than that before the tax cuts and regulatory changes were made. This is expanding family leave benefit as a result of the tax cuts and jobs act of 2017. Charles schwab corporation, san francisco, denver, colorado, cvs health, dollar tree. Headquartered right here in virginia. Lowes. Rollsroyce. Sprouts farmers market. Ellicott city maryland. Starbucks coffee. All because of the tax cut bill. There may be a different opinion about that, but we have all kinds of companies. Walmart. Western Alliance Bank corporation. I could go on and on. All kinds of companies. Not just the thousands and hundreds of thousands of jobs. Millions of jobs that have been added since then. Not just the 3. 5 unemployment. Actually extending benefits to their employees because we have a growing economy. You are giving me the smile, i appreciate that. His business good for you . Business is good for us. A question of whether you have the overarching economic conditions. Hire some more people. Yes, we are. You just opened your business within the last two years. That is correct. Business is good. We have 14 employees. You would rather have higher taxes . Our tax rate is not fundamental variable in how successful our businesses. So you want to pay more . I dont think its a question of wanting to pay more or less. Greater overarching things that help our business by whether we pay little more or less and taxes. You decided to offer parental leave to your employees. Yes. Short term Disability Insurance to our employees now. We will obviously participate. You made that decision because it is obviously part of your Business Model. Part of your business practice. The Business Model you have adopted and it seems to be working. You are expanding. You have had two good years. That is correct. You want the government to mandate what you decided to do voluntarily. We are very special type of company. Large companies with Charles Schwab. Im sure that the googles and facebook do this, too. Farmers market offers it. I dont know. It is in maryland. Im sure you can find all kinds of examples. What is the name of your business . Wellpaid maids. They do it. Theyre not Charles Schwab. You made a business decision. You will offer this benefit because you will attract the kind of employees you like. Your customers like that. What was it called again . What was the name of your business . Wellpaid maids. They like that concept. Theyre willing to pay a little more tap the quality of service you offer your customers. You made that decision on your own as part of a Business Model. As you pointed out, i think it was 20 of businesses extending this benefit. The overarching framework around having a stronger economy means more employers will offer this. The economy goes up and down. Everybody knows that. Benefiting from taking paid medical leave, i do not think this is something that will rise and fall or be offered and not offered. Im not saying that. Im just saying my colleague was saying it had nothing to do with the amazing economy we have been experiencing. All Companies Large and small, including yours that have benefit under this great economy i am offer paid leave, but i think people should be able to make that decision what is best for their Business Model and what is best for their employees just like you did when you started your company two years ago. With that, i yield back. The chair recognizes my colleague from the great state of california jackie spear. One of the cochairs of the women caucus. I congratulate you on your work on this bill. Thank you. Double congratulations to you. I look forward to serving under your distinguished leadership as chair of this committee. Also for the success in getting paid family leave for federal employees which should jump the numbers up a little bit. I must say that i am a little astonished by this debate today because Republican Party prides itself in being the party of the family. When we have 81 of the families in this country, not eligible for paid family leave, i would think you would be running to support this bill. It appears that it is not really about the family. It is really about making sure that big as this has the lowest tax rates possible. Let me talk about california since it has been the whipping child here for the last few hours. California passed the paid family leave in 2004. 99 of employers of employers report that the States Program has had positive or neutral effects on employee morale. 87 said the state program has not resulted in any increased cost. Not only have wage costs not increased, but turnover rates have decreased. California implementing paid family leave was linked to an 11 decrease in elderly nursing home use. As it was pointed out, the study that has been referred to by msw study. It looked at only the first year of operation of this law back in 2004. It was only for moms having their first children. It was before the law in california was enhanced to provide higher wage replacement. The study also explains that many of these mothers may not have returned to fulltime employment out of choice. Amazing that we have free choice to make decisions whether we want to stay home with our children, or not, in some cases. It also showed that women may have worked fewer hours or wanted more flexibility or become selfemployed. That is the california experiment that has actually worked extremely well. There is an effort now in our state by our governor who wants to extend it to six months of paid family leave. We know in europe it is one year of paid family leave. If you are in germany, my goodness, you can go and have a week at a spa to deal with postpartum blues, if necessary. We are so far behind the eight ball it is embarrassing. To have this discussion about imposing some burden on business when the family act will only cost about 2 per week for the typical worker says it all. Can you elaborate on the impacts that californias paid leave program has had . By several studies increase workforce participation and earnings. It has reduced child head trauma it had a reduction in medicaid nursing home use, as you said it has been tremendously positive and we have learned a lot about what it takes to implement a program effectively. Make sure the people that need to use the program are able to use it. Those efforts are ongoing. Partnerships are being developed at work. The state is trying to do a better job to people in other parts of the state besides big cities. Theres a lot of work that needs to be done. California contribution is 1 . There has never been back lash on that. Theres always been a surplus of not fund. What we see a National Polling data about willingness to pay as workers are willing to pay far more than that 1 and far more than what the family act would require. Even the cost estimates that are at the outer bounds of a good cost estimate around what it would look like shows that the cost will not be prohibited and people are willing to pay those costs. Some estimates out there are based on completely, completely out of bounds estimates. For example, the study that they referenced suggests that there would be 16 million parental leave the year. We only have 3. 8 million babies born in this country every year. We cannot rely on those cost estimates. There are studies that are much more accurate. Even a Cost Calculator that was developed by a team of researchers that shows no way even taking the most generous estimates will be more than 1 currently in the bill. I think you and i yield back. Thank you. The chair recognizes representative kilter from pennsylvania. Thank you, madam chair. Just want to thank the panel of witnesses for being here today. This is an important topic. I am glad the committee decided to take this up. First hand experience with a sick child many years ago. This is something that is near and dear to me. A former manager of a Large Manufacturing company. I have experienced in operating a business and having a large number of employees work at that business and it is clear the successful businesses and operations require investing in their employees. Paid time off, i think similar to the made is this here were we had disability policies for employees, for shortterm disability. There are are many options available. In addition to time off. Educational opportunities and so on for dependence of the employees. Just one thing i would like to talk about is, now that the tax cut and job act as the law of the land, employers are providing increased wages, more benefits and more flexible schedules for their employees. Employment has fallen to 3. 5 and according to the siding for Human Resource managers, 20 of of employees offer family leave beyond that of fmla which represents a 6 increase from 2018. When employers are given the opportunity to provide benefits and have the ability to do it, it shows that that is happening. You think this trend would continue . I think if we continue to have this Strong Economy and the type labor market we can expect this to continue. It is the employers best interest to offer these policies. Thank you. How are Companies Responding to the increased desire . The Larger Companies are responding that they are offering formal policies. We are not hearing as much about the smaller employers who make up the lion share of employment in the u. S. They may not be offering formal paid leave policies that show up in the data, i think theyre offering more flexible options. That is actually how most employees who take family medical leave receive pay. Not through that policy, but there are other types of leave that allow them to receive pay. Thank you. In your testimony you mentioned onesizefitsall programs are either too exclusive or too inclusive. Can you expand upon that . There are so many different needs for benefits. Some of those needs are an entire year or more in a federal policy that provides 66 of your wages for 12 weeks maximum. It might make a small dent, but it will not meet those needs. It will not provide that benefit immediately if you have to rush away from work for an emergency. The better way that we can get at those is flexible policies. If you become too inclusive and passive policy any leave for any reason, the costs are tremendous there was some talk about costs already. The family act, that is not a policy that can finance the current amount of leave that is taken today. One in five. You have to have rationing of a policy like that we have to scale it back even more so it is such a barebones program so you cannot benefit low income workers in various people would use it. I appreciate the participation of all the panelists today. Thank you. I yelled back. The chair recognizes congresswoman cortez. Thank you, madam chair chair. Once again, congratulations on this phenomenal hearing on such an important topic. I have to disclose that i have a stake in this fight when i first was starting my office here i decided to offer 12 weeks of paid family leave. In my first 11 or 12 months in office, there there have been six pregnancies in my congressional office. Six folks have taken pregnancy or medical leave. Five of them men in my office. New fathers or folks that are taking medical leave taking care of their families. This has been a very important dynamic. Many of the men in our office have testified how in supporting their partners how critical it has been to be there for, and each of these cases, the women women in their lives. I would like to submit to the congressional record two testimonies from my staffers on the impact of paid family leave in our office. Out of these testimonies, two important statements stood out. As i write this today, i am currently home with my oldest son while my partner visits family in ohio with our youngest son. This may seem an inconsequential detail, but if i was not able to take this time off of work and be fully paid, my partner would not have been able to travel. From my chief of staff when asked about, does giving dads less of paid parental leave then mom contribute to the pay gap tiered when asked about that she said my thought is this. There is is often explicit but passive assumption that child rearing is the job of the mother. Child rearing is the job of the humans that have collectively decided to have that child. When you have institutional setups that reify that, oh, actually, dads, dads dont need as much time. It is not their job to child rear, it is problematic. It creates expectations. If i hire a woman in a certain age range, she she may leave. If i hire a man, she she may not can you illuminate a little on the impact of paid family leave for men. The positive impact that i could have on people that give earth. Absolutely. Actually coming up really poignantly last week. On a panel i model that new america. Men and paid leave. There were three dads that talked about the cultural expectations that dads would not take leave. They were able to negotiate together. One of them had a wife who had a horrible labor and a baby in the nicu. He was back to work within a week. Talking about how even in the childbirth classes and lamaze and all the things he did, never discussion from the Hospital System or his employer or any of the other men in his life about the importance of men taking leave. Policy is a precondition. We have to design policies that have wage replacement that men can afford to take leave. We need culture and a discussion. Men standing up to say leavetaking is important to me and heres the way it allowed me to not just bond with my child, but also support my child. You said earlier you do not believe in a minimum wage. Is that correct . I do not think we should take a job opportunity away from somebody if theyre willing to work at a particular wage so you dont. I think you do not believe as healthcare is a right either. I believe we should help provide access to healthcare. Do you believe employers should offer health care to every employee that they have . As part of a benefits package they should determine what is the best way. You do not believe it should be uniformly offered. I think it should be what workers and employers want. Okay. So the answer is no. Similarly your view on parental leave is to let the market to decide. I think what we have seen here is that the market has decided. 80 of families do not have access and workers dont have access to paid parental leave, paid family leave. About half of moms dont have access. What is the most common length of parental or paid family leave that you have seen . In general sixeight weeks. It really depends. There is not a great sample that tells us. Do we know how long puppies are allowed to stay with their mothers after a dog has given birth . I dont. Eight weeks. The market has decided that women and people that give birth deserve less time with their children than a dog. I think that that at its core has shown that the markets have failed to treat people with dignity and with basic respect. When that happens, i think that it is our job as the public to redefine the roles of society and to treat people that give birth with the dignity that they deserve. Thank you very much. Congressman gomez. Thank you so much for doing this important issue. This is an issue for me that is personal. Most issues are, when i was growing up, my parents worked five, six jobs to make ins meat. I got sick when i was seven years old. Ended up in the hospital with pneumonia. My parents wanted to make sure there was a parent there every day was in the hospital, they missed shifts at work and they had increased hospital bills that put a strain on our family. We almost bankrupted our family. We almost lost our house. This is an issue that i cared about when i entered into the california state legislature. I started figuring out how to tackle this issue. I learned about paid family leave and they did a study in 2014, 10 years after paid family leave was implemented. They had learned a lot of lessons. It was a revolutionary law. Nobody else had done it. There are three things we are lacking. One is wage replacement needs to be high enough so people can take time off. There has to be better job protection. Especially for people working at places with less than 50 employees. The last one was awareness. I introduced ab 908 which redefined the restructured the wage replacement in california. The lower income workers get a higher wage replacement than the higher income workers. We are still seeing how that will play out. We recognize that we need to make this stronger and better. We see the great statistics. 40 of men now taking time off. No longer questioned why the man is taking time off to bond with a newborn child, but more of an expectation. That is a good thing. Ask any woman if its a good thing that a man will spend time with their own child to bond. They will say yes. Companies recognize that. More more Companies Pushing and pushing and pushing. Not just because, and, it, it is the market. They know in order to compete for the workers they need, they need to offer those benefits. The market is responding, but that is because we have the courage enough to pass a law that most people said would drag business out of california when california is now the economic engine and always has been of the country. We are making it even better. I want to focus on new jersey. I know new jersey did a program. I just want to see what you guys are seeing and new jersey when it comes to paid family leave over a decade. How many workers have been able to access paid family leave. What have been the benefits, what have the benefits been to the working families in your state . Thank you for the question, congressman. 6. 5 million. 5 million workers covered in new jersey. This is for every worker in new jersey. Irregardless of the size of the business. Every worker can take part in it on the caregiving side. We have recently expanded our Family Leave Program. Having a higher wage replacement for 85 starting july 1 of next year. Up from the current 66 . We have been trying to learn from it as we go along. I think the past years changes and improvements will go a long way to addressing a lot of the problems. Implementation of paid family medical leave. I think that it will do a lot to reduce inequality. There are a lot of questions about impact on business. Has new jerseys program negatively impacted the states businesses in the Business Climate . Absolutely not. Quite frankly it is about helping them with the claim quicker. An increase in businesses over the time. Small businesses run 6 in new jersey. The person to my left talks about leveling the Playing Field when businesses want to offer benefits to their workers, being able to participate in our program that is one less thing to worry about. I think with this panel it is very interesting. Really starting to dig into the issues. Pay timely programs and any legislation is not perfect. Implementation is always key. Make adjustments as you learn more. I think that california, new jersey, connecticut, the states, the states that are implementing it are starting a trend that i think will reach the congress and we will actually be able to implement a National Paid Family Leave Program for the states that refused to do so. Thank you. We are in Constant Contact about what is working, what is it. Thank you so much. I want to thank all of the panelists. Congratulations on your first day. Thank you so much. I want to thank all of the panelists. The testimony was very moving to me as a mother of two children. To think of that type of a crisis is traumatic. Im happy to hear that your son joe is doing better. I hear stories like yours all the time. People write me. Some of the most Effective Advocates that come to me are people like you. Turning that energy into working for change. Your medical crisis quickly became a financial crisis for your family. How did that added Financial Stress impact your family . It just added more stress to an already stressful situation. My husband was not able to spend time with his son while he was in the hospital because he had to work. The crisis of a child being sick or someone close in your family being sick is both financial and emotional. You wrote in your testimony that your family is still feeling these financial impacts. I understand you lost your retirement funds. Do you think your family will ever recover financially from this stress and financial crisis we lost years of investments for our retirement. I do know i am 38 years old, my husband is 43 years old, we lost five years or so worth of investments that we would have been able to have as we get older. I do not have any more funds to pull from in case he does get sake again, which is a possibility. We do not have the space in our finances to be able to keep saving and be prepared for that. You also wrote about the generosity of your neighbors that came together and helped you in so many ways. A National Paid leave Program Means families like yours do not have to really hope that your neighbors will be as generous and wonderful as yours were weird the families will be able to maintain their Financial Stability in the event of a crisis because workers and employers will both contribute to a comprehensive nationwide program. I would like to and by asking, you do think americans would be willing to pitch in for a program like this. They have been generous on their own. Do you think they would want to create a National Program that would provide the support for families . We say that is our number one priority as a nation. If you look at the policies in place, not enough support for families. In fact, very little. Our own country among two countries in a United Nations survey. Only two countries in the world did not provide for paid leave for the birth of a child. I am thrilled to say that today, adam smith announced at our caucus meeting that he had negotiated and gotten that provision authorization act. 2. 1 million families will now have that benefit. Pushing very hard to expand that to the private sector and to others to provide more support for our families. I cannot tell you how thrilled i am that we passed that. Many women and men have the same stories. Hopefully this will be a new date in america we can continue providing more support for families. I want to thank all of you and all of my colleagues on both sides of the morning i. I would like to ask unanimous consent to enter into the record the statement submitted for this hearing by the majority leader congressman hoyer from maryland. Long been a champion for all workers. I appreciate his effort to reach the possible deals for federal employees. I would like to enter into the record. They describe the critical need for a comprehensive leave program among several Diverse Communities for the National Partnership for women and families. 1000 days. Small business majority. Human rights campaign. Prochoice america and more. I asked unanimous consent that these materials be entered into the official hearing record. So ordered. I would also like to thank the witnesses once again for testifying. Without objection all members have five legislative days to submit additional written questions for the witnesses to the chair which will be forwarded to the witnesses for their response. I asked our witnesses to please respond as promptly as you are able. This hearing is adjourned. Thank you. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] you can parent to being on the jetsons. It is not there yet. Flying airships in this coming decade. Not just a few of them carrying around rich people at golf courses and luxury hotels, they want want to have them caring all kinds of people. They want to have a flying network. Like the metro system with little stops all over dubai. Flying machines carrying people back and forth. Stephen baker whose latest book looks at how technology is changing transportation. Watch the communicators tonight on cspan two. Tonight we take a look at books on business. We will begin with Charles Schwab and his book Charles Schwab invested changing the way americans invest. Then it is big business and its how we play the game. Enjoy book tv and prime time this week and all day every weekend on cspan two. The u. S. Senate as meeting now for a pro forma session. They have been doing this every three days while congress is on a holiday recess. The second session of the 100 16th session begins friday. Provisions of rule 1, paragraph 3, of the standing rules of the senate, i hereby appoint the honorable debra fischer, a senator from the state of nebraska, to perform the duties of the chair. Signed chuck grassley, president pro tempore. The presiding officer under the previous order, the Senate Previous order, the Senate Congress returns to work the first week of january. Here is what is ahead. The house is yet