U.S. should adopt paid parental leave

Having a child is a life-changing event. Caring for that child is time consuming and expensive, and many new parents would like to be able to take time off work to do so. Yet the United States remains the only developed country in the world without a national paid parental leave program. A bipartisan bill introduced in Congress seeks to change that. Under the plan, new parents would be able to take an advance of up to $5000 on the child tax credit. In exchange, parents would see a $500 reduction in their federal child tax credit for each of the next ten years. That makes sense. Parents could use the money however they chose. To buy diapers, to pay for childcare or to make up for lost wages. Fewer than one in five American workers currently get paid leave through their employers. Many, but not all, can take unpaid leave, but that means less money at a time when expenses add up quickly. This plan does not put a burden on the government, or their employers. The plan doesn’t raise taxes and there are no mandates for either parents or the employers. If parents didn’t want to utilize the paid leave program, they could choose not to. The United States should join the rest of the developed world and finally adopt a paid parental leave program.This is a common sense proposal which should pass Congress and become law.