Universal Childcare and Paid Family Leave

As the father of a young child, Max knows how important a child’s early years are to ensuring they can achieve their dreams and live a healthy life in the greatest country on Earth. He also knows that for too many families, childcare overwhelms the family budget or is completely unaffordable. We can change that and put our economy back on the side of parents by creating universal Pre-K, universal childcare, and finally ensuring paid family leave. It is not only the right thing to do, but as the COVID-19 pandemic proved, our economy can’t work without a strong infrastructure to take care of our children. We won’t be able to truly have a thriving economy as long as childcare barriers keep parents who want to work out of the workforce.

And he knows that caregiving extends beyond our kids, as so many of us are caring for aging parents too. Max was proud to cosponsor and vote for the Family and Medical Insurance Leave Act or FAMILY Act, which would create a universal, gender-neutral, national paid family and medical leave program. Under the bill, we’d finally ensure that workers can take up to 12 weeks of paid leave for a pregnancy, the birth or adoption of a child, to recover from a serious illness, or to care for a seriously ill family member. The United States is the only industrialized nation that doesn’t guarantee our workers any form of paid leave. Modeled after successful state programs, the FAMILY Act would create a fund to replace up to 66% of a worker’s wages up to 12 weeks in the event of a serious personal or family medical emergency. Max also supports other efforts to support caregivers like family caregiver tax credit bills to recognize and support not only the emotional and time burden but also the financial hit families face for caregiving for loved ones with disabilities or illnesses.

It is also vital that we make long overdue investments in maternal health care and child nutrition. That’s why Max fully supports funding each and every initiative required to ensure that no pregnant woman does not receive the healthcare she needs, especially women of color who face higher risks of maternal mortality. He also supports legislation to ensure every child is able to receive free nutritious meals at school and through summer programs so no child goes hungry.