Latest news with #StephanieBice
Yahoo
01-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Bipartisan House lawmakers unveil paid family leave incentive bill
A bipartisan group of House lawmakers introduced a bill aimed at expanding paid family leave, the result of more than two years of work by the House Paid Family Leave Working Group. The More Paid Leave for More Americans Act would establish a three-year pilot grant program within the Department of Labor aimed at encouraging states to establish paid family leave programs using public-private partnerships. Reps. Stephanie Bice (R-Okla.) and Chrissy Houlahan (D-Pa.), the co-chairs of the working group, were optimistic about the prospects for the legislation being signed into law, saying party leaders and the White House are aware of it. 'We've had conversations with leadership, but I think more importantly, we've had conversations with committees. We've had conversations with the White House. We have really done our due diligence to make sure everybody knows the importance of this,' Bice said, adding the bill is something 'we feel confident we can get across the finish line.' Houlahan called working on the initiative the 'highlight of her Congressional career,' adding, 'We have been doing our homework and doing the socialization that's necessary to appear on the House side and also on the Senate side, on the Republican side and on the Democratic side, to make sure that there are no surprises.' To qualify for the grants, states must have enacted laws establishing such public-private programs — such as one in which the government funds the benefit but has a private partner administer it — that cover at least the category of birth or adoption under the Family Medical Leave Act. The programs must provide at least six weeks of paid leave to be eligible for the federal grant. And it also requires paid benefit being a level that is at least 67 percent wage replacement rate for individuals at or below the poverty line for a family of four ($31,200), or 50 percent wage replacement for individuals earning more than double the poverty line for a family of four ($62,400). The maximum benefit is 150 percent of a state's average weekly wage to avoid high-income earners getting large benefits. In addition, states would have to participate in the Interstate Paid Leave Action Network, which would establish best practices for paid leave programs based on success in various states with the aim for 'harmonization' across the patchwork of different state laws. The price tag on the program, according to a summary of the legislation, would be $500 million — $265 million for the grant program $235 million for the paid leave network — which would be 'fully offset' through 'several pay-fors negotiated on a bipartisan basis.' One of those pay-fors, Bice said, would be changing funding for extracurricular activities on military bases. Another pay-for in the bill text is halving the amount authorized for an annual report on monitoring illegal and unreported fishing and seafood. Thirteen states and the District of Columbia have paid family leave programs, while Hawaii has paid disability leave and three states have voluntary programs to allow workers and employers to purchase private family or medical leave insurance, according to the Department of Labor. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
The Hill
30-04-2025
- Politics
- The Hill
Bipartisan House lawmakers unveil paid family leave incentive bill
A bipartisan group of House lawmakers introduced a bill aimed at expanding paid family leave, the result of more than two years of work by the House Paid Family Leave Working Group. Titled the More Paid Leave for More Americans Act, the bill would establish a three-year pilot grant program within the Department of Labor aimed at encouraging states to establish their own paid family leave programs using public-private partnerships. Rep. Stephanie Bice (R-Okla.) and Rep. Chrissy Houlahan (D-Pa.), the co-chairs of the working group, were optimistic about the prospects for the legislation being signed into law, saying that party leaders and the White House are aware of it. 'We've had conversations with leadership, but I think more importantly, we've had conversations with committees. We've had conversations with the White House. We have really done our due diligence to make sure everybody knows the importance of this,' Bice said, adding that the bill is something 'we feel confident we can get across the finish line.' Houlahan called working on the initiative the 'highlight of her Congressional career,' and added: 'We have been doing our homework and doing the socialization that's necessary to appear on the House side and also on the Senate side, on the Republican side and on the Democratic side, to make sure that there are no surprises.' To qualify for the grants, states must have enacted laws establishing such public-private programs — such as one in which the government funds the benefit but has a private partner administer it — that cover at least the category of birth or adoption under the Family Medical Leave Act. The programs must provide at least six weeks of paid leave to be eligible for the federal grant. And it also requires paid benefit being a level that is at least 67 percent wage replacement rate for individuals at or below the poverty line for a family of four ($31,200), or 50 percent wage replacement for individuals earning more than double the poverty line for a family of four ($62,400). The maximum benefit is 150 percent of a state's average weekly wage, in order to avoid high-income earners getting large benefits. In addition, states would have to participate in the Interstate Paid Leave Action Network, which would establish best practices for paid leave programs based on success in various states with the aim for 'harmonization' across the patchwork of different state laws. The price tag on the program, according to a summary of the legislation, would be $500 million — $265 million for grant program $235 million for the paid leave network — which would be 'fully offset' through 'several pay-fors negotiated on a bipartisan basis.' One of those pay-fors, Bice said, would be changing funding for extracurricular activities on military bases. Another pay-for in the bill text is halving the amount authorized for an annual report on monitoring illegal and unreported fishing and seafood. Currently, thirteen states and the District of Columbia have paid family leave programs, while Hawaii has paid disability leave and three states have voluntary programs to allow workers and employers to purchase private family or medical leave insurance, according to the Department of Labor.
New York Times
10-04-2025
- Politics
- New York Times
House Votes to Require Proof of Citizenship in Federal Elections
The House on Thursday passed legislation that would require people to prove that they are U.S. citizens when they register to vote, the latest effort in a Republican-led push to tighten voting laws that is tied to President Trump's debunked claims of widespread election fraud. Voting by noncitizens happens rarely, and it is already illegal in federal elections. But Mr. Trump and his Republican allies repeatedly insisted throughout his 2024 campaign that noncitizens were flooding to the polls as he railed against immigration and tried to sow doubt about election integrity. The House bill, which passed on a vote of 220 to 208, would order states to obtain proof of citizenship, such as a passport or a birth certificate, in person from those seeking to register to vote. It would also require states to remove noncitizens from their voter rolls. The legislation echoes a far-reaching executive order that Mr. Trump signed last month in an effort to change U.S. voting rules to address grievances stemming from his lie that the 2020 election was stolen from him. Four centrist-leaning Democrats joined Republicans to pass the bill, known as the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility, or SAVE, Act. But it faces long odds in the Senate, where seven Democrats would have to join Republicans to allow it to proceed to a vote. Conservatives have long argued for stronger laws to combat voter fraud, something that election experts say is exceedingly rare. For years, they have pushed for laws requiring voters to offer photo identification when they arrive at the polls. But as Republicans tried to make immigration the center of last year's election, they began to embrace a baseless narrative that Democrats were intentionally allowing, if not encouraging, immigrants to cross the border illegally in order to register them to vote. The charge echoes the themes of a conspiracy theory known as replacement theory, which asserts that Western elites want to 'replace' and disempower white Americans. Representative Stephanie Bice, Republican of Oklahoma, said that the immigration surge during President Joseph R. Biden Jr.'s term had 'diluted the voting power that is reserved only for American citizens.' A study by the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University looked at 23.5 million votes cast during the 2016 presidential election and found only 30 suspected incidents of potential noncitizen voting. Democrats opposing the bill framed it as an unnecessary effort to address a rare practice that is already illegal. And they warned that the legislation would have substantial unintended consequences, making it more difficult for large swaths of Americans — including women who change their name upon marriage — to vote. 'Republicans would force Americans into a paperwork nightmare, burying voter registration under a mountain of bureaucracy and red tape,' Representative Joseph D. Morelle of New York said. Much of their argument focused on married women whose birth certificates have names that do not match their current legal names. Democrats argued that they would find it difficult to produce the documentation required by the bill, thus disenfranchising them. 'Are you a woman who changed your name when you got married?' Hillary Rodham Clinton, the former secretary of state and Democratic presidential nominee, wrote in a message on social media. 'Congress is considering a bill that could make it much harder for you to vote.' Her post urged women to call their congressional representatives to oppose the bill, and after the measure passed, she added another message encouraging them to 'make sure your senators know you expect them to stand against it.' Mr. Morelle responded to every Republican who spoke in favor of the measure by citing the number of women in their district who might be affected by it and the number of residents without passports who might find themselves unable to register to vote. Republicans dismissed those arguments as fearmongering and said states could set up their own processes to address those whose names did not match their birth certificates. Thursday's vote was the second time in two years the bill had passed the House. Last year, it died in the Democratic-led Senate.
