Obama proposes to offer workers paid family leave
The Des Moines Register | November 08, 2007
By JASON CLAYWORTH
Bettendorf, Ia. - Presidential candidate Barack Obama on Wednesday proposed spending $26 billion a year on middle-class tax cuts and credits, plus help to guarantee sick days for workers and reform of bankruptcy laws.
The policy included a few ideas Obama had previously proposed, such as up to $1,000 a year in tax credits to most middle-class families. That idea would benefit 150 million people, most of whom live in households that make less than $50,000 a year, his campaign has said.
But there are new parts to the plan. For example, it also calls for expansion of the Family and Medical Leave Act, which is a federal law that guarantees many workers an unpaid year's leave to attend to personal health-related matters. Under Obama's plan, states would receive financial incentives so that workers would be paid during their time away.
Another highlight includes a goal to strengthen retirement security by automatically enrolling workers in a portable retirement account as well as to provide additional incentives for savings.
"We need to give families like yours a break," Obama said during a campaign stop at Mississippi Bend Area Education Agency in Bettendorf. "For 25 years, we've seen gaps in wealth grow larger and larger while our tax code favors wealthy people over work."
The U.S. senator from Illinois, whose staff released highlights of the plan before the speech, drew criticism even before he finished delivering his statements in Bettendorf.
Chris Taylor, a spokesman for the Republican National Committee, for example, labeled the plan "empty campaign rhetoric" that would result in higher taxes on small businesses.
Bettendorf residents Patrick and Tracy Moore welcomed Obama's plan. Tracy Moore works as a grant writer for a child care agency, and Patrick Moore is a payroll specialist for a small company. They have an 11-year-old son and said they worry about such things as educational expenses, health care and retirement.
"There's a lot more specifics than you hear from a lot of politicians," Patrick Moore said of Obama's speech.
Obama's campaign staff said the cost for his plan would be covered largely from savings under a proposal requiring all federal contracts over $25,000 be competitively bid, cuts in congressional earmarks, and reforms to capital gains, the campaign said.
Mike Donahue, a spokesman for the National Federation of Independent Business, said he has concerns about Obama's idea to pay employees who use Family and Medical Leave. Currently, employers with fewer than 50 employees are exempt from the act.
"That's extremely troubling for small-business owners," Donahue said. "That is a deal breaker for small businesses."
