Democratic presidential candidates can tap into broad voter support and accelerating progress for an issue nearly all Americans face, but with outsized effects on economically disadvantaged communities.
Dear Democratic presidential candidates: You should have an answer to the everyday struggle
Though Latinx workers have the highest labor force participation rate of any demographic many of these Americans work in low-wage jobs that do not provide paid leave or paid family leave. I hope our next president is ready to describe an actionable and comprehensive path forward on paid family leave.
Por:
Maria Contreras-Sweet
The Democratic Party candidates are lining up for the 2020 election.
Imagen Univision
Bipartisan support for paid family leave has mounted for years, and the next president is likely to have the opportunity to deliver on this critical policy issue. With 84 percent of voters in support of paid family leave but only 17 percent of workers having access to this benefit, Americans are eager to hear how candidates intend to get a new federal policy across the finish line.
As my mom worked and parented, all in one breath, she instilled in us the values that I carry with me today: “por la familia, todo.” Lee este contenido en <a href="https://www.univision.com/noticias/opinion/por-la-familia-todo-ruben-gallego-sobre-su-candidatura-para-ser-el-primer-senador-latino-de-arizona" target="_blank" link-data="{"cms.site.owner":{"_ref":"00000147-f3a5-d4ea-a95f-fbb7f52b0000","_type":"ae3387cc-b875-31b7-b82d-63fd8d758c20"},"cms.content.publishDate":1726508089253,"cms.content.publishUser":{"_ref":"0000017b-d1c8-de50-affb-f1df3e1d0000","_type":"6aa69ae1-35be-30dc-87e9-410da9e1cdcc"},"cms.content.updateDate":1726508089253,"cms.content.updateUser":{"_ref":"0000017b-d1c8-de50-affb-f1df3e1d0000","_type":"6aa69ae1-35be-30dc-87e9-410da9e1cdcc"},"link":{"target":"NEW","attributes":[],"url":"https://www.univision.com/noticias/opinion/por-la-familia-todo-ruben-gallego-sobre-su-candidatura-para-ser-el-primer-senador-latino-de-arizona","_id":"00000191-fbe6-d0b9-a3df-ffee82b60000","_type":"ff658216-e70f-39d0-b660-bdfe57a5599a"},"linkText":"español","_id":"00000191-fbe6-d0b9-a3df-ffee82b10000","_type":"809caec9-30e2-3666-8b71-b32ddbffc288"}">español</a>.
"What a sad reflection that the Republican Party has moved from Abraham Lincoln, who <a href="https://www.lincolncottage.org/lincoln-and-immigration/" target="_blank" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.lincolncottage.org/lincoln-and-immigration/&source=gmail&ust=1722615259799000&usg=AOvVaw1h4-6RbvpglrZVIbOjgpuE" style="color: rgb(17, 85, 204);">said </a>immigration was a ‘source of national wealth and strength’ and Ronald Reagan, who <a href="https://www.reaganlibrary.gov/archives/speech/farewell-address-nation" target="_blank" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.reaganlibrary.gov/archives/speech/farewell-address-nation&source=gmail&ust=1722615259799000&usg=AOvVaw3smYQcjpnK2Yg75NSEOBUf" style="color: rgb(17, 85, 204);">called </a>for his ‘city on the hill’ to be ‘open to anyone with the will and the heart to get here,’ to Donald Trump, who <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2024-election/trump-says-immigrants-are-poisoning-blood-country-biden-campaign-liken-rcna130141" target="_blank" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2024-election/trump-says-immigrants-are-poisoning-blood-country-biden-campaign-liken-rcna130141&source=gmail&ust=1722615259799000&usg=AOvVaw1u4LrDvU2tKeNxJCdbz96i" style="color: rgb(17, 85, 204);">says </a>immigrants are ‘poisoning the blood of our country".
"Our current immigration laws include so many hurdles that can keep families in limbo, and even being married to a U.S. citizen isn’t always enough to allow someone to get a green card".
"For those of us whose livelihoods depend on it, President Biden’s actions to protect and preserve DACA show a striking contrast with those of Trump and MAGA Republicans. Trump has a record of trying to end DACA and will try again if he wins another term".
"While immigrants by now are accustomed to being the tip of the spear in the GOP’s arsenal of attacks, let's be clear-eyed that the threat now is beyond harming immigrant communities or calling attention to the border. This is about using this issue as a tool to further Trump’s political ambitions, even if that means suppressing the right to vote, undermining our election results, or stoking more political violence".
"This month comes at a special moment in our nation’s history. For the first time, we have more Latinos serving in Congress than ever before. In the Senate, the Democratic Majority has confirmed a historic number of Latino judicial nominees and recently confirmed the first Latina to serve on the Federal Reserve in the Board’s 109-year history".
"This is the clean energy boom unleashed by President Biden: good-paying jobs in a fast-growing industry and lower bills for working families — all while addressing the climate crisis affecting our lives".
Putting presidents, former presidents and coup plotters on trial is an honorable and necessary practice to maintain a healthy democracy. Failure to put on trial presidents or former presidents who broke the law or committed crimes has had devastating consequences in Latin America.
Mexico's migrant policy bears responsibility for the deaths of 39 migrants in the fire at a detention center in Ciudad Juarez. They were in the custody of the Mexican government, in a federal facility.
The Democratic debates offer a perfect opportunity to establish positions on paid family and medical leave. And doing so in Detroit, an incredible city ripe for reinvestment and regrowth of the small businesses, will have special resonance given the small business community’s central role in the paid leave debate.
When I started managing my own companies, I remember spending all day getting business and then all night long getting the business done. At some point, nearly all working Americans will also have to find the time to care for an elderly parent, a new baby, or a sick loved one. But those who can least afford to miss a paycheck and most need help to tide them through the rough times – including low income, minority, and small business workers – do not have access to paid leave.
I started ProAmérica Bank, a commercial bank that focuses on small to mid-sized businesses in underserved communities, to eliminate artificial barriers to minorities in the workplace—barriers I came to understand better during my tenure as head of the U.S. Small Business Administration. Though Latinx workers have the highest labor force participation rate of any demographic, the National Partnership for Women & Families’ (NPWF) reports that many of these Americans work in low-wage jobs that do not provide paid leave or paid family leave.
Small businesses are finding that paid family leave helps them retain talent and save costs by reducing employee turnover. Yet many small business owners struggle to finance this benefit for their employees, and without the clarity of a national policy, will struggle to manage different state and local requirements. Meanwhile, their employees will continue to struggle to meet their job and caregiving responsibilities.
I hope our next president is ready to ascend the stage and describe an actionable and comprehensive path forward on paid family leave. This is an issue that goes to the heart of the everyday struggles faced by millions of working families in this country and it represents just the sort of real-life, real-world challenge I’d like our next president to tackle and resolve. The American people are ready.
( Maria Contreras-Sweet is a member of BPC’s Board of Directors and a co-chair of BPC’s Task Force on Paid Family Leave. Contreras-Sweet served as an Obama Cabinet Secretary as the 24th Administrator of the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA). She started ProAmérica Bank, a commercial bank focusing on small to mid-sized businesses, to serve economically disadvantaged communities.)
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