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This bill would entitle every person to a family and medical leave insurance (FMLI) benefit payment for up to one year after they meet certain qualifications to compensate them for up to 60 caregiving days over the course of that year. To accomplish this, the Office of Paid Family and Medical Leave would be established within the Social Security Administration.

Any person who meets the following criteria would be qualified for a benefit payment if they:

Are insured for disability insurance benefits under the Social Security Act when they have applied for FMLI benefits;
Have earned income from work during the 12 months before the application was filed;
Have filed an application for a FMLI benefit;
Were engaged in qualified caregiving 90 days before the application was filed, or anticipate doing so in the 30 days after.

A formula would be created to determine an individual’s monthly FMLI benefit payment, which also establish the minimum and maximum monthly benefit amounts. Workers could get up to 12 weeks of partial income when taking time off for dealing with their own health problems, or those of their spouse or child. They could receive up to two-thirds of their monthly wages up to a capped amount.

This bill would also contain a requirement that these benefit payments be coordinated with temporary disability insurance and any state, local, or combined family leave insurance program.

Funds from the Social Security Trust Fund could not be used or appropriated to make FMLI benefit payments. Instead, the Federal Family and Medical Leave Insurance Trust Fund would be set up in the Treasury to facilitate FMLI benefit payments.

The Internal Revenue Code would be amended to impose a tax on every individual and employer, all self-employment income, plus railroad employees, their representatives, and employers to finance the FMLI benefits. Taxes would be imposed on both employers and employees at a rate of 0.2 percent on the wages of each. This would lead to taxes of $72 per year for workers at the median weekly wage, or $227 per year for the highest earners according to the bill's proponents.

","official_title":"A bill to provide paid and family medical leave benefits to certain individuals, and for other purposes.","short_title":"Family and Medical Insurance Leave Act","popular_title":null,"short_summary":"Family and Medical Insurance Leave Act\n\nEstablishes the Office of Paid Family and Medical Leave within the Social Security Administration (SSA), to be headed by the Deputy SSA Commissioner.\n\nEntitles every individual to a family and medical leave insurance (FMLI) benefit payment for each month beginning on the first day of the first month in which the individual meets the criteria specified below and ending 365 days later (benefit period), not to exceed 60 qualified caregiving days per period. Entitles an individual qualifies to such a benefit payment if such individual:\n\n is insured for disability insurance benefits under the Social Security Act at the time his or her application is filed; has earned income from employment during the 12 months before filing it; has filed an application for a FMLI benefit in accordance with this bill; and was engaged in qualified caregiving (any activity, except regular employment, for a reason for which the individual would be entitled to leave under t...","summarized":true,"cost":null,"cost_commentary":"A CBO cost estimate is unavailable.","impact":"All workers and taxpayers, their spouses and children, employers and business owners, the newly created Office of Paid Family and Medical Leave, and the Dept. of the Treasury.","argument_for":"Ensuring that working families don’t suffer economic hardship because one or more of a family’s earners have to take time off of work to tend to the health needs of their spouse or child benefits all Americans, and is worth the taxes.","argument_against":"Raising taxes to create a new entitlement program — however well intentioned — is the last thing that the American taxpayer and the country’s economy need at the moment, especially with an unknown price tag.","bill_type":"s","published":true,"type":"FederalBill","id":"s786-114","bill_id":"s786-114","formal_id":"S. 786","chamber":"senate","congress":114,"last_action_at":"2015-03-18T00:00:00.000Z","active":false,"enacted":false,"enacted_at":null,"vetoed":false,"last_vote_at":null,"debated_on":null,"congress_url":"https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th/senate-bill/786","plain_text_url":"http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/BILLS-114s786is/html/BILLS-114s786is.htm","shareable_image_url":"https://n.causes.com/share-images/bills/s786-114.png","congress_full_text_url":"https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th/senate-bill/786/text","is_current_congress":false,"last_version_on":"2015-03-18","related_bill_ids":["hr1439-114"],"progress":"Introduced","house_passage_result":false,"senate_passage_result":false,"position_count":315,"committees":[{"name":"Committee on Finance","chamber":"senate","committee_id":"SSFI","subcommittee":false}],"links":{"rollCalls":"/api/roll_calls?bill_id=s786-114","details":"/api/bills/s786-114/details","sharingMessage":"/api/sharing_messages/s786-114","positionsFor":"/api/bills/s786-114/positions/for","positionsAgainst":"/api/bills/s786-114/positions/against"},"upcoming":false,"cosponsors_count":21,"slug":"s786-114-family-and-medical-insurance-leave-act","latest_chamber_votes_id":null,"official_url":null,"target_video":true,"following":false,"vote_count":3101,"yea_vote_count":1032,"nay_vote_count":2060,"passed_house":false,"passed_senate":false,"vote_id":null,"my_position_id":null,"topic_ids":["health","work"],"issue_ids":["health","federal-agencies","small-business","work"],"sponsor_id":557}],"votes":[],"issues":[{"id":"health","name":"Health","slug":"health","description":"Federal legislation around Health, encompassing: the Affordable Care Act, Medicare, Research into diseases (Cancer, HIV/Aids, Ebola), Drug safety, Hospital care and prescription drugs.","page_title":"Health Related US Federal legislation, including Medicare, ACA, and research - Vote on Bills, Stay informed, Hold Your Reps Accountable","icons":{"black":"https://assets.causes.com/issue/icon/health/black_health-1429042037.svg","grey":"https://assets.causes.com/issue/icon/health/grey_health-1429042037.svg","white":"https://assets.causes.com/issue/icon/health/white_health-1429042037.svg"},"cover_image_url":null,"is_following":false},{"id":"federal-agencies","name":"Federal Agencies","slug":"federal-agencies","description":"Vote on the latest federal legislation regarding Federal Agencies. 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Do the Feds Need to Raise Taxes to Fund a Paid Sick Leave Program?