Paid Family and Medical Leave

Floor Speech

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Mr. HORSFORD. Madam Speaker, I rise to celebrate the historic deal reached by the House Committee on Ways and Means to include paid family and medical leave in the Build Back Better Act.

For decades, the United States has fallen behind the rest of the world in the support that we provide for working families. Without a national paid leave policy, families have been forced to make an impossible choice between caring for their loved ones and putting food on the table.

Across the Nation, there are millions of Americans like my constituent, Tameka Henry, who has lost $200,000 in wages over the course of her lifetime while caring for her chronically ill husband. Those lost wages mean lost contributions to Medicare and Social Security that push working Americans further behind in our economy. This shouldn't be a partisan issue.

Paid leave levels the playing field for our small businesses and lifts up our entire economy. I hope that my Republican colleagues will come forward to help us deliver this historic change for the American people. But if they fail, make no mistake, Democrats will deliver for their constituents and for our own.

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