On my KGO 810 radio show today (February 7, 2018) we had Carrie Lukas, President of the Independent Women’s Forum as a guest. Our topic was the 25th anniversary of the Family and Medical Leave Act and paid maternity leave.
Republicans have a new idea on this topic, with Senator Marco Rubio and Ivanka Trump leading the way. We discussed and sharply debated over borrowing against Social Security which is paid back with delayed retirement 1:1. Further, I suggest shoring up Social Security as I wrote about HERE.
From Politico:
Rubio has barely started drafting a paid leave bill, much less a broader legislative strategy. But he envisions an idea that has recently gained traction in conservative circles: allowing people to draw Social Security benefits when they want to take time off for a new baby or other family-related matters, and then delay their checks when they hit retirement age.
For instance, a person who would begin receiving full benefits when he or she turns 67 years old but wants to take six weeks of paid leave wouldn’t draw Social Security benefits until six weeks after his or her 67th birthday.
“That’s a new idea for Republicans who still identify it as something that comes out of the left,” Rubio said of paid family leave. “Forcing companies to provide it is perhaps an idea that finds its genesis on the left, but the notion that pregnancy should not be a bankruptcy-eliciting event is one that I think all Americans should be supportive of.”
As we ran out of time, I finished the interview with a polite thank you. Carrie finished the interview with “what a joke.”
Is it a joke to worry about disguising paid maternity leave as another punishment of women on the lower end of the economic scale?