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Senator Rubio Set to Formally Launch His Paid Family Leave Proposal


Following President Donald Trump's mention earlier this year in his State of the Union address about his support for paid family leave, Florida Senator Marco Rubio and one of President Trump's daughter, Ivanka Trump, began to discuss the options for advancing a paid family leave proposal through Congress.  After meeting with several members of Congress on the matter, Senator Rubio and Mrs. Trump outlined the basics of a paid family leave proposal that would allow workers to borrow from their Social Security benefits in order to obtain paid family leave. 

For those needing a refresher, the proposal would allow workers to draw from their Social Security benefits for up to 12 weeks each (or a total of 24 weeks for both spouses combined) for each child born or adopted.  In return for allowing these workers to draw from their Social Security benefits, their retirement benefits would be deferred for the amount of time necessary to offset the cost of obtaining the paid family leave.  

Supporters of this proposal have championed it as a logical solution to concerns that many have had over prior paid family leave proposals:  Not wanting to raise taxes or force employers to comply with a paid family leave plan.  However, critics had been quick to label this plan as essentially robbing Peter to pay Paul.  By allowing workers to draw from their Social Security benefits, that could further endanger the retirement program and force workers into financial hardship toward the tail end of their working years (if they were not able to obtain Social Security benefits for an extended time because they had previously drawn on those benefits for paid family leave).

However, while things had remained relatively stagnant after initial details came out about the plan, that appears to have changed as Senator Rubio is apparently set to formally launch the paid family leave proposal this week.  In fact, the Senate Committee on Finance is set to hold a hearing on the matter today.  This would mark the first step in moving the proposal toward a workable piece of legislation that could then eventually be put before the House and Senate for a vote.  Assuming the proposal would make it out of this Committee, it would likely then proceed to the rest of Congress for further debate on the matter.  If Senator Rubio can get Republicans to support this proposal, it could stand a good chance of passing (as Republicans control both the House and Senate and do not need any Democrats to support the measure for it to pass).



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