Sanders Campaign Press Release - Sanders' Campaign Questions Clinton Opposition to Paid Family and Medical Leave Legislation

DAVENPORT, Iowa – U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders on Friday plans to make the case for three months of paid family and medical leave if employees have a child or they or their family members become ill. He plans to tell a news conference in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, that it's unconscionable that millions of new parents in this country are forced back to work because they don't have the income to stay home with their newborn babies.

Sen. Sanders is disappointed that Hillary Clinton refuses to support the FAMILY Act sponsored by leading Democratic women in the Senate and House.

Bernie is one of 19 cosponsors of the bill by Sen. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand to provide three months of paid family leave for new parents and people with serious illnesses. Rep. Rosa DeLauro's House bill has 112 cosponsors.

The legislation would be paid for by a small payroll tax totaling $1.61 a week for a typical worker.

"Bernie thinks that's a good investment," said Sanders spokesman Michael Briggs. Secretary Clinton has refused to support the paid family and medical leave legislation because of the way it would be funded.

"What Secretary Clinton might not appreciate is that we're talking about the same kind of modest investment our country has made before in two critically important programs for working families: Social Security and Medicare," Briggs added.

"Would Secretary Clinton have opposed Social Security when President Roosevelt signed it into law? Would she have fought President Johnson when Medicare was passed? What FDR understood in terms of Social Security and what LBJ understood in terms of Medicare is the importance of all workers having a stake in important programs for working families, " Briggs said.

"If she was the president, would she now veto the paid family and medical leave legislation that Democrats have introduced in Congress? How exactly would Sec. Clinton pay for her plan?"

Sanders support for the FAMILY Act was criticized on Friday by Clinton's top domestic policy adviser, Ann O'Leary. Curiously, O'Leary previously supported a payroll tax to provide family and medical leave insurance in an article she co-authored for the Center for American Progress.