Family leave provision not included in final Senate bill

The U.S. is the world's only industrialized country without a national paid family and medical leave policy that guarantees workers compensation when they take time off to have children. President Joe Biden's efforts to change have fallen short, at least for now.

Biden promised in the 2020 campaign that he would create a national paid family and medical leave program allowing all employees to take up to 12 weeks of paid time off.

After originally being negotiated out of Biden's proposed Build Back Better spending bill framework, the provision made a comeback, though in a more limited form than Biden had envisioned. The version of the bill that passed the House in November 2021 included four weeks per year of family and medical leave.

But in the Senate, a few Democratic lawmakers whose support was crucial to the bill's passage objected to the measure's scope. So, the bill that passed the Senate on Aug. 7 was limited mostly to elements on climate change, health care, and corporate taxation. 

This version of the bill — which is expected to pass the House and be signed by Biden — did not address family and medical leave.

Since this is the last major legislation considered to have a chance of passing before the midterm elections, we rate this promise Stalled.