Many federal workers and contractors had to make difficult choices between putting food on the table or paying their bills. What these government employees endured is, unfortunately, a sobering reality for many low-wage workers every day.

One day while working Maria, who has diabetes, passed out due to low blood sugar and was taken to a hospital in Kenosha. Her recovery was going to take months. “I asked (my employer) if I could use my vacation days for medical leave,” Maria told The Journal Times. “They said I couldn’t use vacation time for medical leave.”

For his last few years, my dad lived in a care facility. The memory care unit staff treated him well. But he needed more than the staff. He needed my brothers and me to help him navigate his changing needs.

The Legislature has approved a bill to expand New Jersey’s Paid Family Leave Law. It would give eligible workers more paid leave to care for a newborn or other family member and more money for each day of leave they take.

In today’s divisive political environment, we can all agree upon the critical importance of supporting our families and local businesses. We also know that throughout our state and our country people are struggling to afford having children and caring for themselves or their aging family members.

As a father who has been down this road, I’m well aware that taking time off to be with family can feel like being in a tug of war, where you feel like you need to be home because you love your family and want to support them, but you also feel as though you will face backlash at work for choosing your spouse and children over your carrier.

I can’t always do as much as I’d like to for my employees. When they need time off to care for loved ones, I do my best to provide them with that time, but often we simply can’t afford to pay them during their leave.

The governor-elect has made paid leave a top priority for his first year in office, while a newly empowered DFL majority in the House is sympathetic to the issue. Even the GOP chair of a Senate committee reconstituted to take on family issues says she wants to look into the issue.

It is time to renew the promise of the FAMILY Act. The new Democratic leaders in the House will almost surely renew the bill and pass it in the House, while Republicans in the Senate should prove once and for all whether they are actually the party of family values.

“You kind of feel like you’re behind, and it’s just nice to feel like we’re catching up,” [Sammamish worker Maia] Knox said of the new benefit.

Both political parties recognize that adopting a national policy is good for business, families, state government, and the overall economy and country. The only question is how we will get it done.

“There’s a lot of women that aren’t able to work full-time full-year, and there are consequences to this,” [study co-author and labor economist Stephen Rose] said. More than 40 percent of today’s women workers have taken at least one year off with no earnings, typically to care for children or aging or ailing family members, the study said.

Only policies that meet our complex needs can allow us to be ourselves whether at work or beyond. That’s why in addition to advocating for housing and job security, I’m a trans activist fighting for paid family and medical leave – one of the policies that is urgently needed for the trans community.