August, 01 2018, 12:00am EDT
Businesses Criticize Sen Rubio Paid Leave Bill as Too Limited and Not Funded Responsibly
WASHINGTON
Today, the leading policy advocacy group for responsible businesses released a statement criticizing the Economic Security for Parents Act that will be introduced by Senator Marco Rubio, saying that it would provide limited benefits and reduce Social Security for participants. The following statement may be attributed to Christine Blackburn, Policy Director of the American Sustainable Business Council (ASBC):
"This bill is a long way away from what American employees need and what most businesses want to provide. The benefits are extremely limited, but that's not the worst of it. Reducing Social Security benefits to pay for limited paid leave makes no sense. We support the FAMILY Act, which would provide the comprehensive benefits American employees and businesses need, and it is funded with small contributions by both employees and employers."
In addition to its responsible funding, the FAMILY Act's broader benefits would cover critical family and medical issues that Senator Rubio's bill doesn't. By focusing only on a very narrow part of the working population that needs paid leave, Rubio's bill ignores the vast majority of employees who use paid leave to take care of other family members and deal with serious illnesses. Nearly 75% of employees currently with access to leave, either under law or through their employer, use their leave for instances other than the birth or adoption of a new child. Under the FAMILY Act, all employees could use their benefits to take care of other family members or deal with their own serious illnesses.
Companies in states that already have paid leave policies in place have seen increased worker satisfaction and increasingly productive workplaces. This, in turn, reduces business costs associated with employee turnover and training, which can cost thousands of dollars per worker.
"Senator Rubio's bill presents a cruel choice to American employees," said Blackburn. "They should not be forced to choose between taking leave they need now or full retirement benefits. It is bad public policy to implement a government-mandated policy that drains the Social Security program during a time when many workers are already struggling to put aside enough for retirement."
ASBC submitted testimony to a Senate subcommittee hearing on paid leave held on July 11. It said in part, "The right program will allow employees to meet the needs of a new family or take proper care of a seriously ill loved one (or themselves) without financial penalty. Because these are inherently stressful life situations, practical support, such as paid leave, makes a profound and lasting difference to employees and their loved ones." The full testimony may be found here: https://asbcouncil.org/sites/default/files/asbcpaidleavehearingwrittentestimonyfinal.pdf.
Paid leave is a key component of what ASBC calls the high-road workplace. Companies that follow the high road, value their employees, the communities in which they operate, and the products and services they provide as equally important to their financial success. High-road companies that implement paid leave programs understand that workers' personal lives can impact their work lives. By taking the needs of their workers into consideration, high road companies reap the benefit of happy, productive employees and lower hiring and training costs.
ASBC published a report, "The High Road Workplace: Route to a Sustainable Economy," that describes high-road practices and principles. It may be found here: https://asbcouncil.org/sites/default/files/asbc_building_the_high_road_report_2017.pdf
The American Sustainable Business Council (ASBC) advocates for policy change and informs business owners, policymakers and the public about the need and opportunities for building a vibrant, broadly prosperous, sustainable economy. Founded in 2009, its membership represents over 250,000 businesses in a wide range of industries.
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Henry Kissinger Dies at 100 Without Facing Justice for His War Crimes
"A true tally will probably never be known of everyone who died so Kissinger could be national security adviser," wrote journalist Spencer Ackerman.
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Henry Kissinger, the former diplomat whose efforts to prolong and expand the U.S. war on Southeast Asia and undermine democracy in Latin America and elsewhere took millions of lives, died Wednesday at 100 years old.
Treated like royalty in elite U.S. political circles until his death at his home in Connecticut, Kissinger—who served as secretary of state and national security adviser under Nixon and Ford—never faced justice for the secretive carpet bombing of Cambodia that he helped orchestrate, the overthrow of Chile's democratically elected president, or the murderous "dirty war" in Argentina that killed tens of thousands.
The scope of his crimes was so vast that he had to watch where he traveled, lest he be detained to face questioning for his role in assassinations, massacres, and violent military coups whose reverberations are still felt in the present.
"The covert justifications for illegally bombing Cambodia became the framework for the justifications of drone strikes and forever war. It's a perfect expression of American militarism's unbroken circle," historian Greg Grandin, author of "Kissinger's Shadow," toldThe Intercept earlier this year. Grandin has estimated that Kissinger was responsible for at least 3 million deaths.
Observers of Kissinger's impact have said it's difficult to convey the true extent of the destruction he inflicted across the globe.
In his obituary of Kissinger for Rolling Stone, journalist Spencer Ackerman wrote that "measuring purely by confirmed kills, the worst mass murderer ever executed by the United States was the white-supremacist terrorist Timothy McVeigh."
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