Speaking at the Values Summit in Washington, D.C.. on Friday, Marco Rubio unveiled a proposal to encourage paid family leave in the United States that he said won’t grow the size of government.
The Florida senator said, if elected, he would offer a “limited” 25 percent non-refundable tax credit to any business that offers between four and 12 weeks of paid leave.
“This won’t solve every scheduling conflict between work and family life. No policy can,” Rubio was scheduled to tell the audience of social conservatives. “But it will help ensure that our people don’t have to sit behind a desk while the most profound moments of their lives pass them by.
“And it will help our businesses expand and create new jobs by allowing them to keep more of their money rather than send it to Washington.”
Under the Family Medical Leave Act, most workers are allowed up to 12 weeks of leave per year to care for family members. But that leave is unpaid.
On the campaign trail this year, both Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders have addressed the issue. Clinton has called for paid family leave as a way of helping women stay in the workforce. Sanders has advocated for both paid vacation and paid maternity leave.
Rubio says it’s not just Democrats talking up the issue, as he touted Nebraska U.S. Sen. Deb Fischer as a leader on leave reform. Along with Maine independent Angus King, Fischer introduced The Strong Families Act in 2014, would incentivize employers to voluntarily provide employers with paid parental or medical leave.
“Unfortunately, our current president prefers not to sign legislation that is commonsense, so these efforts will likely be something I need to take up as president,” Rubio said.
In his speech, Rubio discussed how he hopes the country will look in 2020, after he’s served his first term in office:
“I want to be able to say: We’ve defended religious freedom; supported the right of our people to not just hold traditional views, but to express them; and we’ve reformed the tax code to encourage marriage rather than punish it, and make it easier for parents to afford the costs of raising children. And as a result, our families have found financial security, they’re raising strong children with strong values, and they’re instilling in their kids all the hope in the future of America that our parents instilled in us.
“This is what I want us to be talking about in 2020 – the accomplishments of our people… not Washington. “
And as he asserted in the Reagan Library debate, Rubio is seizing on the anti-Washington sentiment among the American people by boasting about leaving the U.S. Senate.
“Too many leaders in both parties have fallen out of touch with America,” he said. “And this is exactly why, after almost five years in the Senate, I’ve had enough. I’ve decided to run for president because I’ve realized that none of the problems I got elected to solve are going to be solved if we keep promoting the same people to higher and higher ranks within our government. “
The GOP presidential candidate has been on a roll this week, with improved poll numbers following another impressive debate performance last week in Simi Valley. One of those polls shows him leading Jeb Bush in Florida for the first time this year.
And he’s gotten under the skin of front-runner Donald Trump.
In recent days, the breakout star in the Republican presidential race has lashed out at Rubio, telling CNN on Thursday that Marco Rubio is “like a kid. He shouldn’t be running in this race as far as I’m concerned,” adding that “Marco Rubio sits behind a desk; sometimes he reads stuff; he’s in committees, so you know that’s all he does. I create jobs all day long.”
But Rubio fired back, telling a Kentucky radio station that Trump “had a really bad debate performance last week, he’s not well informed on the issues, he really never talks about issues and can’t have more than a 10-second sound bite on any key issue.”
“So I think he’s really been exposed a little bit over the last seven days and he’s a very touchy and insecure guy and so that’s how he reacts,” he said. “And people can see through it.”
