§30 —
On paternity leave
Democrat
37 OF 38
The comparison is not close and it is not a matter of framing. As of April 2024 the OECD family database counted 37 of its 38 member countries providing paid parental leave and paid maternity leave at the national level 1. The United States is the one that does not, and is one of only a handful of countries on earth in that position 1.
The part worth being angry about is that this is not a live fight anybody is losing. There is a bill. H.R. 9261, the Comprehensive Paid Leave for Federal Employees Act, was introduced in June 2026 by a bipartisan group of House members: twelve weeks a year, usable for a serious health condition, for a spouse, child or parent, for a family member's military deployment 2. A Senate version followed on 31 July 3. In August, the Senate pared it back 2. Note the scope even at full size — this is the federal government deciding what to give its own employees, not the country. Thirty-seven of thirty-eight solved this at the national level. Here, the version that covers only the people who work for the government is the one that got trimmed.
Sources
- As of April 2024 the OECD family database counted 37 of 38 member countries providing paid parental and maternity leave at the national level; the United States is the exception — Congressional Research Service, Paid Family and Medical Leave in the United States ↑
- H.R. 9261, the Comprehensive Paid Leave for Federal Employees Act, introduced June 2026 by a bipartisan group of House members: up to 12 weeks a year for a serious health condition, to care for a spouse, child or parent, for a family member's active-duty deployment, or following domestic violence, sexual assault or stalking; pared back in the Senate in August 2026 — Government Executive, August 2026 ↑
- The Senate companion was introduced 31 July 2026 — Office of Sen. Alex Padilla ↑
Republican
13 STATES
The federalism argument here is the serious one and it has produced actual results, which is more than can be said for most federalism arguments. Thirteen states and the District of Columbia now run paid family leave programs, built to their own designs, funded their own way 1. That is not nothing. Those programs exist because states were free to build them without waiting for Washington, and several of them are more generous than what a federal floor would likely have set.
The honest version of this position also has to say what it costs. A state-by-state system means the leave a new parent gets is determined by which side of a state line the hospital is on. It means an employer operating in six states runs six schemes. And it means the roughly two-thirds of the country living in states without a program are relying on an employer's goodwill, which is a real thing that many employers have and no worker can count on. Laboratories of democracy is a good argument for trying things. It is a weaker argument for stopping there after thirty years.
Sources
“Paternity leave. Now here's what got me — I assumed there'd been some big fight, some vote where it lost. There wasn't. Thirty-seven of thirty-eight OECD countries provide it at the national level. We're the one that doesn't. Thirteen states and the District have built their own. And there is a bill: H.R. 9261, introduced in June by a bipartisan group, twelve weeks for federal workers, and a Senate companion in July. Sorry, one thing before you go. The Senate pared it back last month. Not killed. Trimmed. And that's how the only rich country without this stays the only rich country without this — nobody ever has to be the one who voted no.”— Lou
“Thirty-eight countries in the club. Thirty-seven of them figured out that a person who just had a baby should get paid for a few weeks. We're the thirty-eighth. Not because anybody voted it down — there's a bill, it's bipartisan, twelve weeks, and it only covers federal employees. It got pared back last month. So we're not losing the argument. Nobody's having the argument. That's worse.”
“Paid leave is best handled at the state level where it can be tailored, and thirteen states have done exactly that, which shows the system working — and a federal mandate would be a one-size-fits-all approach to something that is fundamentally a conversation between an employer and an employee.”