Sen. Marco Rubio's (R., Fla.) office debuted a new video on Tuesday outlining his conservative proposal for a federal paid family leave plan.
The video, a two-and-a-half minute spot, combines footage of Rubio announcing his proposal with an appearance he made before the Young America's Foundation. The juxtaposition highlights who Rubio's proposal would most benefit: the young people of today, who are the parents of tomorrow.
"A healthy America is marked by the spirit of our youth. It is true and it will always be true. The heart and soul of our nation is in our young people," Rubio tells the YAF group in the video.
The CDC announced recently that the U.S. fertility rate had fallen to a 42-year low, hitting an estimated 1.75 children per American mother. Dropping fertility means slowing population growth, with each generation smaller than the previous one.
Fertility has fallen for myriad and complicated reasons, including the rising prevalence of effective birth control, falling marriage rates, and women opting to delay first childbirth. When Americans are actually polled, however, they name one factor over all others: the cost of childcare.
Rubio's family leave proposal takes aim at that issue without raising taxes or creating new government programs. The "Economic Security for New Parents Act" would allow new parents to draw on Social Security early, using it to replace lost income as they take time off from work to care for their newborn child.
In return, the parents would retire slightly later, probably between two and six months after standard retirement age. Rubio's office estimated that in a household of two parents each making $40,000 a year, the plan would replace 77 percent of income.
"Parents should be able to use their own money to help start and raise a family," Rubio says in the video.
Although unpaid family leave is a federally guaranteed right, only about 14 percent of American workers have access to paid family leave. The United States is the only OECD country without a paid family leave policy, although three states have enshrined it in their own laws.
The lack of federal PFL is a problem because, according to the Bipartisan Policy Center, paid leave promotes financial stability, and is tied to lower rates of low birth weight and infant mortality. Research suggests that bonding with parents in the first several months of life are critical for a child, and that spending time with his or her parents is strongly related to a child's mental health and resilience later in life.
If enacted, Rubio's proposal could ease the burden that can come with the sometimes-challenging transition to parenthood, leaving parents with one less thing to focus on besides the new life they have brought into the world.
"There is nothing that is better for children than to have parents that are involved in their lives, and that is especially true in the early weeks of their lives," Rubio said. "Right now for millions of children who are born into working families, that isn't what's happening. It is hurting our children to have parents who can't afford to be with them after they're born."