Paid Parental Leave Fight Looming

The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee is marking up the Federal Employees Paid Parental Leave Act again on Wednesday, and Ranking Member Darrell Issa is weighing in, declaring in a letter to his colleagues "I fully recognize that, like their private sector counterparts, most Federal employees work hard and deserve competitive compensation and benefits packages. In these perilous economic times, however, when many in the private sector are having to make difficult cuts, it is inappropriate for us to heap even more generous benefits on federal employees."

I don't know how this will affect committee Republicans. Some of them had already come out in opposition to the bill, but at least one, Brian Bilbray, said he would support the bill on the grounds that it sets a non-coercive model for private-sector employees. Should be an interesting debate.