. . . last night, in his State of the Union address, President Trump said that his budget includes "a plan for nationwide paid family leave."
And he got bipartisan applause for that.
After making the statement, he immediately went on to other topics, so we don't know what he has in mind. Vox (among others) has posted the complete transcript of his speech, and here is everything he said about paid leave:
“I am also proud to be the first president to include in my budget a plan for nationwide paid family leave -- so that every new parent has the chance to bond with their newborn child.
That was it.
Last time the issue of paid leave came up, the Republicans proposed allowing people to draw a "loan" from their future Social Security benefits. The Democrats objected to that, and proposed a federal insurance program.
The parties never reached agreement on how to finance the paid leave, and we didn't hear much more about it afterward.
But maybe 2019 is the year?