Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., chairwoman of the House Oversight and Reform Committee, introduced the bill.

Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., chairwoman of the House Oversight and Reform Committee, introduced the bill. Greg Nash/Pool via AP

House Panel Advances Bill Providing Feds Paid Family Leave

Republicans question the methodology of a last-minute preliminary study by the Congressional Budget Office, despite the fact that CBO does not do full reports until bills are sent to the House floor.

A House panel on Tuesday voted 24-16 along party lines to advance legislation that would provide federal employees with up to 12 weeks of paid family leave each year, over objections from Republicans about a last-minute report from the Congressional Budget Office.

The Comprehensive Paid Leave for Federal Employees Act (H.R. 564) would provide all federal workers, including U.S. Postal Service employees, with up to 12 weeks each year of paid leave to deal with a personal illness, to care for a family member suffering from illness, or in connection with a family member going on or returning from active duty. The bill mirrors a recently enacted law providing federal employees with 12 weeks of paid parental leave per year.

An amendment adopted at the start of the House Oversight and Reform Committee’s consideration of the legislation would clarify that loss of pregnancy, failed adoption and births by federal employees as part of a surrogacy arrangement also would qualify for the new leave benefit.

Committee Chairwoman Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., who introduced the legislation, said the COVID-19 pandemic showed how badly workers both in the federal government and the private sector need access to comprehensive paid leave in the event of an illness or other emergency.

“Millions of Americans have had the agonizing experience of having to give up a paycheck in order to recover from illness, care for a loved one or to help at home when a family member has been deployed, and families of federal workers are no different,” she said. “[Some] opponents have said that federal employees already have paid annual and sick leave benefits and that is true, but these serve a fundamentally different purpose. Federal workers should not have to deplete their sick and annual leave because of Congress’ unwillingness to provide paid leave to deal with longer term hardships.”

Republicans chafed at what they called yet another “perk” for unelected “bureaucrats” and objected to the lack of a solid cost estimate from the Congressional Budget Office.

“Rather than ensuring that agencies are meeting their missions, especially in the wake of COVID-related shutdowns, we are considering expanding another benefit for the already well paid and well protected federal workforce,” said Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., the committee’s ranking member. “[Combined] with federal holidays, a federal employee might work for only eight months of the year, and even less in some cases. And the majority does not even know how much this will cost.”

Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., took exception to Comer’s choice of words when referring to federal employees and their benefits.

“Frankly, over the last decade, my Republican friends, especially when they are in the majority, have never missed an opportunity to demonize the federal workforce,” Connolly said. “They’re not public servants, they’re bureaucrats. They don’t have a benefit package like other employees in America, they have perks. The language is deliberate: to demonize federal employees, to somehow make them fat bureaucrats who don’t really do a job. It’s a disservice to the men and women who serve our constituents, whether it be [at] the [Veterans Affairs Administration], Social Security Administration, the [Internal Revenue Service] or at our national parks.”

Maloney responded to Comer by unveiling that the committee had received a preliminary cost estimate from CBO, and that the program would cost $53 million in direct spending over the next decade, not including the impact on the U.S. Postal Service, since that agency is considered “off budget.” Republicans cried foul at the fact that they were not provided with the report prior to the committee meeting, and made multiple failed attempts to postpone committee votes and adjourn the meeting early.

“I am dismayed that I’m in the middle of a hearing and apparently the majority has a CBO report that the minority didn’t receive,” said Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz. “That’s unacceptable. If this really is the important topic that it has been made out to be, that information should have been shared with the minority.”

Biggs and Comer said that they and their Republican colleagues “don’t believe” the CBO score, citing the lack of analysis of the bill’s impact on the Postal Service, as well as a lack of scoring of indirect budget impacts on the rest of the federal government.

“Now that I can see the report, what it does is they’re taking a straight line, nondiscursive view of this, so it doesn’t include everything,” Biggs said. “There’s nothing about the macroeconomic impact, the potential for hiring temporary employees that might be necessary, and there’s nothing about productivity or increased backlogs. So this chart here quite frankly is misrepresentative of what it will ultimately cost to implement this new program, and I’m dismayed that it’s become part of our discussion today.”

Maloney noted that CBO generally only does full analyses of pending legislation once a bill has advanced out of committee. The bill now goes to the floor for that full analysis and consideration by the entire House.

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.