Trump Calls on Congress to Pass Bipartisan Paid Family Leave Bill

President Donald Trump called on Congress during the State of the Union Tuesday night to pass a bipartisan paid family leave bill.

Trump touted his and Congress’s work to help parents start new families. The president praised a defense bill that he signed last December that expanded paid family leave for federal civilian employees.

Trump called on Congress to pass the Advancing Support for Working Families Act, which would extend “family leave to mothers and fathers all across the Nation.”

Trump said:

Forty million American families have an average $2,200 extra thanks to our child tax credit. I have also overseen historic funding increases for high-quality childcare, enabling 17 states to serve more children, many of which have reduced or eliminated their waitlists altogether. And I sent the Congress a plan with a vision to further expand access to high-quality childcare and urge you to act immediately.

Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) worked with Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) to craft the Advancing Support for Working Families Act to help parents raise their newborns.

The legislation would give new parents the option to bring forward their Child Tax Credit (CTC) to receive a $5,000 paid leave benefit. The Cassidy-Sinema plan would provide new parents with the flexibility to cover costs after having or adopting a child. Reps. Colin Allred (D-TX) and Elise Stefanik (R-NY) are leading the paid family leave effort in the House.

Cassidy told Breitbart News Monday that the president’s support for the bill will help push the legislation through Congress. He said:

Republicans and Democrats both agree that our country needs a paid family leave policy. President Trump will highlight this need and the bipartisan, bicameral solution that Sen. Sinema and I are offering. The President’s support moves us closer to passing this bill for the benefit of America’s new parents and children.

Cassidy told Breitbart News during a press conference last June that Trump has been the “ultimate force” behind Republicans embracing “kitchen-table” issues such as drug pricing, the opioid epidemic, and paid family leave.