JoAnna is at Capitol Hill with families, parents and caregivers to call on Congress to include paid family and medical leave in the legislative package.
The hope of a federal paid family and medical leave program has been dashed after Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., vowed to vote against the package that would include the change.
Manchin said on Fox News that he is against the legislation in its current form.
Four weeks of paid leave for workers if they have a new child, need to take care of a loved one or tend to their own medical needs are some of the proposals in the sweeping $1.75 trillion package.
Manchin is not in favor of the paid leave proposal due to the costs of a new federal program. The four-week paid leave proposal would cost around $205 billion over the next 10 years according to the Congressional Budget Office.
Manchin supports a paid leave program that has a dedicated, sustainable funding mechanism, according to his communications director.
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10 million children will be poor when the child tax credit ends.
The SALT deduction relief may be in jeopardy.
The rules for the wealthy are still in place.
His comments in Sunday's interview were crushing for JoAnna Vance, 32, of Beckley, West Virginia, who has been campaigning to support the paid leave proposal and to get build back better passed, including speaking to Manchin himself.
"I'm just so upset," he said.
She said that if he doesn't support it, it's going to hurt many West Virginians.
The groups devoted to paid leave responded quickly.
The leave plan would save jobs and lives, and could provide West Virginians with more money in their paychecks each year, according to paid leave for all.
The U.S. is one of the few developed countries that does not have a paid leave program. The initiative was included in the measure passed by that chamber despite being temporarily dropped from an earlier House version.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., has pledged his support for paid leave in the Senate.
He said that paid leave was one of the most important parts of the proposal.
The Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 allows qualified workers to take leave for family or medical reasons, but Congress has largely not addressed the issue. Some workers are not covered by the policy.
The Bipartisan Policy Center has evaluated how a compromise on paid leave could be reached, and found that it would be devastating to not see it happen.
Manchin left a caucus meeting with Senate Democrats at the U.S. Capitol on December 17, 2021.
There are a few years before you can move something meaningful again.
When her husband sought help for substance abuse disorder, she said not having access to paid leave affected her family financially. He lost his job as a coal miner after 10 days of treatment and had to find work in a lower wage industry.
He went to treatment to get better. It hurt us financially in the long run.
She said her husband would have been able to keep his job if he had access to paid leave.
The paid family leave program and the enhanced child tax credit have been championed by the congressman this year. The checks are due to expire this year.
Manchin was a no-show for a meeting that was scheduled in Washington, D.C. She and other advocates met with the lawmaker's staff.
She was able to talk to Manchin directly when they were on the same flight to Washington, D.C.
It was a good conversation, according to Vance. She followed up by writing Manchin a letter because she didn't get to say everything she wanted to.
We need you to pass the Build Back Better Agenda, which will make it a major down payment for our future, for West Virginia's future, and most importantly our kid's future.
