Thank you for taking the time to answer our questions about your position on paid family leave. PL+US Action is endorsing candidates who are paid family leave champions based on their submitted questionnaires and commitment to a paid family leave platform.

Upon review of all questionnaires, PL+US Action will be in touch with select campaigns for follow-up conversations and/or endorsement information. Please note questionnaire responses may be used on PL+US Action’s website to share candidate positions with our supporters, voters, and allied organizations.

If you have questions about the content of this questionnaire, or to return a completed questionnaire, please email Jenn Kauffman (jenn@plusactionfund.us).

For each question, please answer AND briefly explain your rationale. If you need additional space, feel free to submit an additional sheet.

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* 1. Contact Information

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* 2. Does your campaign website include paid family leave on your issues, positions, and or candidate platform page?

Everyone, at some point in their life, has an experience with caregiving — either to provide care for a loved one, care for themselves, or receive care from others. One in four moms in the U.S. returns to work just 10 days after childbirth, and one in six people spend an average of 20 hours every week taking care of sick or elderly family. While paid family leave is most commonly associated with parental leave, three-quarters of workplace leave is used for medical or caregiving reasons.

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* 3. Do you support paid family leave policies that include parental leave?

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* 4. Do you support paid family leave policies that include caregiving leave?

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* 5. Do you support paid family leave policies that include medical leave?

Many paid leave policies are only available to birthing mothers, and exclude fathers and adoptive parents. Unequal policies in paid family leave pose a hardship for families and don't match up with the caregiving roles dads and moms play. When everyone has access to paid family leave policies, men are more likely to use paid family leave, women's workforce participation increases, and the gender pay gap decreases.

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* 6. Do you support paid family leave that provides equal parental leave to all parents, regardless of gender?

When partially paid leave doesn’t adequately cover missed wages, most families can’t make ends meet or take the full amount of the time they need. A 2017 Pew Research Center study found that the majority of people who take partially paid leave take less than they needed because they could not afford the lost income, and nearly half of low income families that took partially paid leave had to go on public assistance.

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* 7. Do you support paid family leave that provides low income families a higher rate of wage replacement?

Several states have successfully implemented paid family leave — and all of which use an insurance model to support the program funded jointly by employers and employees through a small payroll deduction. Paid family leave legislation has been introduced in Congress with different funding models.

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* 8. Do you support creating a national paid family leave program?

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* 9. If so, should that program be based on a national insurance program?

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* 10. Or should the program require participants to borrow from their social security?

Paid family leave is a public health issue. There is strong evidence that paid family leave can reduce infant death and illness, support early child development, and lower mothers’ risk of health complications after childbirth. Serious health events like cancer require months-long course of medical interventions such as surgery, radiation, chemotherapy, and hospitalization. Most medical research and evidence points to six months of paid medical and parental leave as the minimum required for families in order to produce optimal health outcomes.  

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* 11. How many weeks or months of paid leave should families have access to via a national paid family leave policy? (please indicate whether you are specifying weeks or months in your response)

The future of work is changing. Millions are working as small business owners, are self-employed, or work one or multiple jobs in the gig economy. A national paid family leave program based on an insurance model could allow self-employed and non-traditional workers to contribute premiums into the insurance program and access the funds for paid family leave benefits down the road.

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* 12. Do you support national paid family leave policy that allows everyone, regardless of where they work, the ability to contribute and participate?

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* 13. Do you have a personal experience with family leave or caregiving?

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