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Senator Marco Rubio & Ivanka Trump Push New Paid Leave Proposal


For readers that watched President Donald Trump's State of the Union last week, you might have caught the brief reference by the President in regard to his support of a nationwide paid leave bill.  Perhaps wanting to strike while the iron is hot, Florida Senator Marco Rubio has started to make waves recently with his work on a new paid leave proposal alongside Ivanka Trump.  (Readers might remember that Ivanka Trump has been eyeing a paid leave proposal for some time now.)  While still in the early stages and without much of a draft of a proposed bill, this proposal is somewhat innovative in that it would allow workers to dip into their Social Security benefits when they want to take time off to care for a new child or take care of a sick family member.  I will let you read that last sentence again.  This proposal would let workers use paid leave by "borrowing" from their Social Security benefits.

Let us use an example to better illustrate this proposal:  A worker takes 6 weeks of paid leave by "borrowing" from their Social Security benefits.  As a result, when that worker would be able to receive full Social Security benefits at 67 years old, he/she would not be able to actually receive their Social Security benefits until 6 weeks after his/her 67th birthday.  In essence, this is akin to robbing Peter to pay Paul.  

The concern that many have with this proposal, myself included, is what kind of limits would actually be placed on this proposal.  How often could workers actually "borrow" from their Social Security benefits?  Would there be a restriction on the total number of benefits that could actually be borrowed each month/year?  It is not hard to imagine this spiraling out of control with workers continuing to borrow against their Social Security benefits so often that they inevitably delay their right to receive Social Security benefits for months or years.

New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand has emerged as an early critic of this paid leave proposal (although I caution readers that without actual language in a proposed piece of legislation, it might be too early to bring out the knives for this proposal).  Senator Gillibrand has argued that under Rubio and Trump's proposal, Social Security would be unjustly weakened and harm low income workers, seniors, and women.  In an effort to offer a counter proposal, Senator Gillibrand has proposed a plan that would offer workers up to 12 weeks of paid leave after the birth of a child or to care for a sick family member.  This proposal would be funded by employers and employees both paying .2% of the employee's wages to fund the program.

I think it is too uncertain whether either of these proposals can garner enough support to actually become law.  Republicans do not have as much of an appetite for paid leave (compared to Democrats), but Republicans are hungry for another legislative victory.  Could a proposal by the President's daughter find enough support among Republicans (who control both houses of Congress) to actually result in the bill's passage?  Stay tuned.


For additional information on Rubio and Trump's proposal:  https://www.politico.com/story/2018/02/04/rubio-ivanka-trump-family-leave-385050

For additional information on Gillibrand's proposal:  http://auburnpub.com/blogs/eye_on_ny/gillibrand-gop-paid-leave-plan-would-weaken-social-security/article_66db742a-0c15-11e8-b3cf-e3021ecd0fa5.html
 

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