Rubio Unveils Paid Family Leave Plan at Value Voters Summit

Senator Marco Rubio opened the annual Value Voters Summit in Washington, D.C. Friday morning, unveiling his new plan to help working families with a family leave reform without government mandates.

“I believe we can fix this problem by applying our free enterprise principles in a way that encourages businesses to choose to offer more paid family leave,” the GOP contender said.

Rubio’s proposal will provide a non-refundable tax credit of 25% to businesses that offer four to twelve weeks of paid leave. Under this plan, $1,600 offered in paid leave for four weeks will provide the employer a tax credit of $400.

“It will help ensure that our people don’t have to sit behind a desk while the most profound moments of their lives pass them by, and it will help businesses expand and create new jobs that will allow them to keep more of their money rather than send it to Washington,” Rubio said.

This tax credit plan Rubio offers will give businesses who voluntarily give their employees the leave in life event circumstances, such as a birth of a child or caring for a sick loved ones. Rubio calls this family leave reform a commonsense effort he will take up as president since the “current president prefers not to sign legislation” efforts such as Senator Deb Fischer (R-NE) Strong Families Act that was introduce in 2014. Under the current Family Medical Leave Act that passed in 1993, it requires employers of 50 or more employees to provide up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave.

Rubio has been gaining momentum in rising poll numbers after the second debate performance last week in Simi Valley. He also has been rolling out detailed policy proposals throughout the campaign trail such as a tax reform plan of simplifying the individual code to two single groups – 35% and 15% and corporate tax system to 25% rate. His hawkish foreign policy proposal Rubio has presented has given him traction that has been the center plan of his campaign by calling for an active American role in foreign affairs.

In his speech, Rubio continued to discuss policies step when elected as president he hopes by 2020 the American people will be talking about instead of Washington.

“In 2020, I want to be able to say we made our business tax code globally competitive, repealed and replaced Obamacare, placed a cap on regulations.

We secured our borders first, then reformed our legal immigration system to base it on what a person can contribute to our economy, not whether they have a family member living here.

We have defended religious freedom, supported the right of our people to not just hold traditional views, but to express them; and we have reformed the tax code to encourage marriage rather than punish it.”