POWERING PAID LEAVE: After congressional Democrats slashed paid leave from their final reconciliation bill two years ago, most expected a divided Congress to focus mostly on messaging. Advocates shifted their attention to state legislatures and the upcoming election, while the White House accepted its relegation to the bully pulpit. Most recently, Biden referenced paid leave during his State of the Union address before including it in his fiscal 2025 budget request. Some lawmakers, however, are powering ahead. A bipartisan House working group led by Reps. Chrissy Houlahan (D-Pa.) and Stephanie Bice (R-Okla.) is mapping out possible avenues for enacting chunks of its recently announced legislative proposal, a senior legislative staffer directly involved told Weekly Shift. An expansion of tax credits for employers who offer paid leave benefits could go in a future tax package. A pilot program that helps states implement their own policies might be enacted as part of future appropriations legislation. With the government now funded through September and negotiations over the current tax package at an impasse, neither conversation is likely to happen until after the election. Nonetheless, their inception reflects greater legislative momentum than most had anticipated after moderate Democrat and Republican concerns capsized talk of a federal program. “We are now at a point where there is very serious discussion about paid family and medical leave, and how we can try to move forward,” Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.), the top Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee and long-time sponsor of a bill that would provide all workers with 12 weeks of paid leave, told Weekly Shift. She added that she is “in close contact with” the working group. Right now, its members are in the process of drafting legislation to match their proposal, the staffer said. They’re simultaneously keeping tabs on responses to a request for information put out in December alongside Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) and Bill Cassidy (R-La.). Without text, there are outstanding questions over how the state pilot program would work — including from DeLauro herself, who would hold some sway over whether the language makes it into appropriations legislation. “I thought that the Department of Labor already provides grants to states to look at a paid family leave program,” DeLauro said. And progressives and advocates say the tax credits in question have limited reach and mostly reimburse employers that would have offered the benefit anyway.. They point to IRS data that shows that only about 1,200 companies filed for the tax credit in 2020 — and that most of the money went to bigger employers. “I don't think that is a policy that is expanding access to paid leave to more people,” Vicki Shabo, a senior fellow at New America, told Weekly Shift. Yet Shabo and others express real optimism that the state pilot program, in particular, could help expand access to paid leave for more workers. “I really think that states’ support could move the needle … depending on exactly what they were doing,” Sherry Leiwant, co-president of advocacy group A Better Balance, told Weekly Shift. GOOD MORNING. It’s Monday, March 25. Welcome back to Morning Shift, your go-to tipsheet on labor and employment-related immigration. Send feedback, tips and exclusives to nniedzwiadek@politico.com and gyarrow@politico.com. Follow us on X, formerly known as Twitter, at @NickNiedz and @YarrowGrace. Want to receive this newsletter every weekday? Subscribe to POLITICO Pro. You’ll also receive daily policy news and other intelligence you need to act on the day’s biggest stories.
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