Bipartisan paid family leave effort ramps up in the House. Will it work?

A bipartisan group of House members, led by Reps. Stephanie I. Bice (R-Okla.) and Chrissy Houlahan (D-Pa.), are hoping to defy the odds and move the country closer to a national paid leave program.

Next week Houlahan and Bice will announce the formation of a new task force that will also include Reps. Julia Letlow (R-La.), Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R-Iowa), Haley Stevens (D-Mich.) and Colin Allred (D-Tex.).

Letlow, the first Republican woman elected to Congress from Louisiana and a mother of two young children, whose husband died of covid in 2020 just days before being sworn into office, was invited by Bice, as was Miller-Meeks. Allred has had two children since he was elected to Congress and has taken two parental leaves. 

The group will hold their first meeting Feb. 7, hours before President Biden delivers his State of the Union address.