The farm bill is America’s rural agenda and should include a system of three months a year of paid family and medical leave, said the Democrat-leaning One Country Project on Monday. The program would be financed by a 1 percent tax on income, with employers paying the bulk of it.
“This year, Congress has the opportunity to go beyond farm and food policy and address the totality of what it means to live, work, and succeed in rural communities,” said the organization, founded by two former farm-state senators, Democrats Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota and Joe Donnelly of Indiana. “After years of being de-prioritized, rural communities are being left behind as their residents struggle to access services that are widely available in other areas of the country.”
Leaders of the House and Senate Agriculture committees aim for enactment of the farm bill by the end of December. The 2018 farm law expired on Saturday. The first major impact was expected on Jan. 1, when the government-guaranteed price of fresh milk would more than double under terms of the underlying “permanent” farm law.
Public nutrition and commodity support programs dominate the farm bill at present, although there is a rural development section focused on high-speed internet, housing, and water and sewer projects. It would be a marked change to create a paid family and medical leave program.
The paid leave proposal, dealing with rural quality of life, was the last of three policy recommendations by One Country Project. The others were farm economics and local prosperity.
Under the proposal, workers would be eligible for up to 12 weeks of paid leave for the birth or adoption of a child; illness or death of a family member; or to recuperate from illness. Those earning less than 200 percent of the poverty line, which is $29,160 for one person and $49,720 for a household of three this year, would receive a full replacement wage. The replacement wage would be taper off to 70 percent for workers making more than 400 percent of the poverty threshold.
To pay for the Family and Medical Leave Yearly program, a 1 percent tax would be levied on wages, with employers paying 75 percent of the money. All workers would be subject to the tax and firms would more than 25 employees would be taxed.
The existing federal program of 12 weeks on unpaid family and medical leave per year would remain in effect.
President Biden called for a paid family leave program during his State of the Union address in January. The idea gained little traction in Congress, where Republicans say federal spending should be cut.