Issues@Hand

AFA initiatives, Christian activism, news briefs

March 2020 – President Donald Trump recently signed a bill into law that provides 12 weeks of paid parental leave to federal employees.

According to the Society for Human Resource Management, “Military service members already may take 12 weeks of paid leave to care for a new child, and under this bill, 2.1 million civilian federal workers also would be able to take paid leave to care for a new baby after birth, adoption, or the start of foster care.”

The leave provision is part of the National Defense Authorization Act, a $738 billion defense bill that is the largest investment in military power in history. It is reported that parental leave was included in the bill in exchange for the establishment of Trump’s Space Force as a new branch of the U.S. military.

Trump’s daughter and senior White House advisor, Ivanka Trump, is partially credited for pushing the policy into law.

cnn.com, 12/17/19; shrm.org, 12/18/19;
usatoday.com, 12/12/19, 12/20/19