Statement of Jocelyn Frye, President of the National Partnership for Women & Families

WASHINGTON, D.C. – May 14, 2025 – “More than 100 million people do not have paid family leave through their jobs. For far too long, these workers – both women and men – have had to choose: go to work and continue earning a paycheck to pay bills and keep food on the table – or stay home to care for a sick loved one. It’s not a choice that any worker should have to make. Yet, in this country, it’s a choice people must make every day – and most often these impossible choices fall to women to navigate.

“There are clear solutions to help these workers – access to paid family and medical leave is a proven policy that enables workers to take time off without putting their job, and their economic stability, at risk. But most workers don’t have it, and the too few workers that do are most often the highest paid workers who typically already have better benefits and greater resources. Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives’ Ways and Means Committee apparently seek to address this gap in paid leave access by expanding and extending the 45S paid leave tax credit, a provision in the 2017 tax law. But that tax credit has not worked for workers. It offers a partial subsidy to businesses that voluntarily decide to provide paid leave, even if they provide as little as two weeks of paid leave with only half the pay. The result has been an overwhelming handout to wealthy corporations that already provide benefits, without much change in paid leave access for workers. And now Ways and Means Republicans want to pay to extend this tax credit by cutting Medicaid and other vital programs that families in this country rely on.

“Workers need and deserve time to provide care for their loved ones. They need solutions that actually work and not empty rhetoric. A comprehensive paid family and medical leave policy would provide for that need. It would benefit those on the receiving end of caregiving. It would benefit their families and the U.S. economy. It would benefit small business owners who want to compete for and retain the best talent – 79 percent of whom support a national program that would guarantee employees up to 12 weeks of their pay.

“We are grateful to Ranking Member Richie Neal, Congressman Jimmy Gomez and the Democrats of the Ways & Means Committee for proposing solutions that actually would expand access to paid leave for working people. Every Democrat on the Committee supported an amendment that would have made key changes to improve the tax credit to bolster state paid leave programs, help small businesses that struggle to provide paid leave and need more support and ensure that workers are not retaliated against or fired for taking paid leave. Unfortunately, every Republican voted against these changes, making clear their indifference to expanding access to paid leave and their overarching interest in giving handouts to wealthy corporations.

“Continuing to invest in policies that don’t actually work simply makes no sense – and doing so is not fooling anyone, especially workers. Extending and expanding an ineffectual tax credit reinforces the narrative that Congress is out of touch with the daily challenges facing families across the country. Giving more benefits to large, wealthy corporations does not help the people that need paid leave the most. Workers deserve better.

“The National Partnership for Women & Families will continue to work with paid leave allies in Congress – the true allies for working families – who want to see universal paid leave for every worker in this country so that they can care for themselves or a loved one.”

Learn more about this in our fact sheet, “Employer Paid Leave Tax Credits Will Not Close Gaps in Access to Paid Leave.”

# # #

Media Contact:

Gail Zuagar
Email
202-986-2600