U.S. Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, D-Skamania, joined colleagues from both sides of the aisle in introducing two new bills on Wednesday Feb. 5, focused on America’s financial wellbeing.
The first of the two bills would require Congress to consider the full price of a bill, including the cost of future interest payments resulting from increasing the national debt.
The second bill focused on the local level and would preserve the 45S tax credit, which was introduced in 2017, for employers who offer 12 weeks of paid family and medical leave voluntarily.
Gluesenkamp Perez and her colleagues say the intention behind the first bill is to increase transparency so that voters and representatives understand the long-term financial cost of federal legislation.
“Servicing costs for our national debt make up one of the largest parts of our worsening deficit,” she stated in a news release. “Nevertheless, estimates of these costs aren’t included in the budget analysis of each piece of legislation considered by Congress.”
The Congressional Budget Office is in charge of calculating the costs of implementing the policies in any and all bills, but that currently only includes the initial financial cost and doesn’t show how much implementation will cost after interest is paid.
The second bill not only extends a tax policy originally put in place by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 but expands it by including more ways that a business can qualify for the 45S tax credit, requiring more work toward informing the public about the credit and making it easier for new employees to qualify for paid family and medical leave .
“Taking care of your health, newborn or family when they’re most in need shouldn’t come at the cost of paying the bills,” Gluesenkamp Perez said in the release. “With the paid family and medical leave tax credit due to expire, our bipartisan legislation will make this successful credit permanent.”
Citing Bureau of Labor and Statistics, the office of Gluesenkamp Perez reported that 41% or more of employees working at businesses with more than 500 employees can receive paid family and medical leave while only 20 percent of workers at businesses with 99 employees or less can access the resource.
