Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer is outside the Senate Chambers of the Capitol.
The Senate will soon consider whether to implement a plan for a federal paid family and medical leave.
As lawmakers negotiate to get the package passed, advocates are campaigning hard to make sure the issue doesn't end up on the chopping block.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., expressed his support for the proposal on Thursday.
Schumer said that paid leave was one of the most important planks in the proposal.
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Lawmakers could compromise on paid family leave.
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Schumer said that they are fighting hard to get national comprehensive paid leave.
Schumer supports paid leave advocates who have made efforts to lobby him.
The families in Schumer's own Brooklyn, New York, neighborhood of Park Slope were campaigning for the issue after the proposal was dropped from the initial framework of the bill.
More than 750 New York-area community organizations and leaders, including Schumer's own rabbi, sent him a letter in December in favor of the proposal.
Schumer said the paid family and medical leave is important because of the challenges Americans face when they have newborn children, contend with an unexpected medical condition or need to take care of a loved one.
The U.S. is the only developed nation that does not have a uniform family leave policy.
Schumer said that he was fighting to make this a reality.
The paid family and medical leave proposal could still face obstacles as Democrats look to pass the Build Back Better package exclusively through the support of its own party.
The proposal has been opposed by Sen. Joe Manchin due to costs. The four-week paid leave proposal would cost around $205 billion over the next 10 years according to the Congressional Budget Office.
The paid leave proposal is popular with the American public, and failing to pass it could have consequences for the Senate races in 2022, according to Democratic strategists and pollsters.
Republicans have opposed creating a federal program and instead proposed incentives for employers to provide paid leave.
