Pelosi Adds Paid Leave Back Into Spending Bill

On Wednesday, the day after Democrats dramatically underperformed in elections across the country, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi decided to double down on progressivism, announcing that paid family and medical leave would be added back to the Build Back Better Act.

The provisions were originally removed as moderate Democrats pointed out that the language could incentivize fraud and argued that work requirements should be attached.

“Because we must have legislation agreed to by the House and the Senate in the final version of the Build Back Better Act that we will send to the President’s desk, we must strive to find common ground in the legislation,” Pelosi wrote in a letter announcing her decision. “As we are reviewing priorities and at the urging of many members of the Caucus, I have asked the Ways and Means Committee for its legislation for Paid Family and Medical Leave to be included in this morning’s hearing.”

CNN reported, “Democrats had previously scrapped the family leave provision after failing to reach a compromise with key moderate Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, who had several objections to the measure — a position he reiterated Wednesday.”

Manchin has played a key role in restraining the radical Democrats from massively increasing the national debt bypassing the original $3.5 trillion version of the Build Back Better Act.
In an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal, Manchin explained, “I, for one, won’t support a $3.5 trillion bill, or anywhere near that level of additional spending, without greater clarity about why Congress chooses to ignore the serious effects inflation and debt have on existing government programs. This is even more important now as the Social Security and Medicare Trustees have sounded the alarm that these life-saving programs will be insolvent and benefits could start to be reduced as soon as 2026 for Medicare and 2033, a year earlier than previously projected, for Social Security….”

“While my fellow Democrats will disagree, I believe that spending trillions more dollars not only ignores present economic reality but makes it certain that America will be fiscally weakened when it faces a future recession or national emergency,” Manchin continued. “For those who will dismiss my unwillingness to support a $3.5 trillion bill as political posturing, I hope they heed the powerful words of Adm. Mike Mullen, a former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who called debt the biggest threat to national security. His comments echoed the fear and concern I’ve heard from many economic experts I’ve personally met with.”