Giannoulias Says Working Families Have Borne the Brunt of Failed Bush/Kirk Economics

Press Release

Kicking off Mother's Day weekend today, Democratic U.S. Senate nominee Alexi Giannoulias discussed his agenda to help Illinois parents balance work and family and ensure they aren't faced with a choice between keeping their job and caring for their children. He also criticized Republican Congressman Mark Kirk for voting for tax breaks for companies that ship American jobs overseas, forcing families to take jobs with lower pay and fewer benefits.

"Too many Illinoisans feel trapped between being a good parent and having to work harder than ever to be good providers in these difficult economic times," Giannoulias said. "When it comes to supporting families, the contrast between Congressman Kirk and me could not be more clear. Congressman Kirk supported the Bush economic policies that got us into this mess and opposes President Obama's middle-class tax cuts that help Illinois families make ends meet. While I will work with President Obama and keep fighting to help working families and help small businesses create jobs, Kirk votes against working families, especially those headed by single mothers."

Giannoulias' agenda is rooted in the belief that working families too often face a difficult choice between working hard to provide for their children or actually spending time with them. His work-family agenda focuses on increasing workplace flexibility to help build stronger families, increase American competitiveness, and promote economic growth. Alexi also strongly believes the Family and Medical Leave Act needs to be expanded to small businesses with 20 employees or more in order to support one of the key engines of our economy.

"With sound policies and sensible investments, we can give parents more choices to make the decisions that are best for them. We can make life a little easier for everyone - for mothers and for fathers - to do the most important job there is in any society: raising and nurturing the next generation. And that's the right decision for all of us," Giannoulias said.

KIRK'S REFUSAL TO SUPPORT WORKING FAMILIES

OPPOSED EXPANDING FAMILY LEAVE PROGRAMS
Congressman Kirk opposed ensuring that federal employees would be paid for four of the twelve weeks of parental leave, as outlined in the Family and Medical Leave Act. He also refused to cosponsor bills that would expand the Leave Act and include domestic partners under its rules. [HRes1277, Vote 423, 6/19/08;]

SUPPORTED CUTTING CHILD CARE FUNDING
Congressman Kirk voted for the 2006 Bush budget, which froze the level of childcare, causing 300,000 children to lose child care assistance in working families by 2010. [HCR95, Vote 149, 4/28/05; Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, 12/5/2005]

SUPPORTED CUTTING EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION
Congressman Kirk voted in favor of legislation that would have begun to dismantle the Head Start program by reducing high-quality federal performance standards, freezing funding levels and ultimately cutting enrollment for the first time in history. [HR 2210, Vote 444, 7/24/03]

OPPOSED MAKING EDUCATION MORE AFFORDABLE
Congressman Kirk voted in favor of legislation that cut $12.7 billion from student loan programs - the largest single cut in history. He later voted against the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act that increased Pell Grants by $40 billion to low-income students. Kirk has opposed funding for Pell Grants at least four times before. [HRS 653, Vote 4, 2/01/06; HR 3221, Vote 719, 9/17/200; HR3293, Vote 646, 7/24/09; CQ Committee Coverage, House Appropriations Committee Markup, HR5647, 6/13/06; HR3010, Vote 320, 6/24/05; HCR95, Vote 82, 3/20/039]

GIANNOULIAS AGENDA TO HELP PARENTS BALANCE
WORK AND FAMILIES

IMPROVE FAMILY LEAVE PROGRAMS
The national Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) provides unpaid time off for parents to care for their newborn or adopted children or to support caregivers who are caring for elderly relatives or immediate family members. The United States is one of only a few countries that provides no legal guarantee of maternity leave to all new mothers.

The U.S. Department of Labor reports that 3.5 million workers cannot afford to take advantage of unpaid family leave for the birth or adoption of a child. The Paid Parental Leave Act provides federally-employed parents four weeks of paid leave to spend at home with a new child. Alexi supports this first step toward universal paid leave so that families must no longer choose between a child and a paycheck.

Alexi would like to see all states institute a paid family leave program. In the U.S. Senate, he will support efforts that help states to test and implement new programs that meet basic national standards. One such model is California's program, which provides paid family leave for all employees who pay into California's state disability insurance program.

While FMLA has shown to improve employee productivity and retention, it only applies to firms with more than 50 workers, an exclusion that disproportionately impacts low-wage workers and working women because they are more likely to work for small employers. Alexi would like to see that threshold lowered to firms with 20 employees or more.

Unmarried domestic partners in committed, long-term relationships should enjoy the same rights and responsibilities under the law. Alexi would push to include domestic partners under FMLA so that they can care for their new children or for loved ones in times of need. The first step should be passage of the Domestic Violence Leave Act, which expands the FMLA to include domestic partners.

PROVIDE ACCESS TO EARLY CHILDHOOD CARE
Alexi believes that a quality education serves as the foundation of the American economy and that we must invest in our children at a very young age. That is why he supports an increased investment in Head Start, Early Head Start, and other early childhood education programs.

The level of child care funding was frozen by the Bush administration, effectively causing 300,000 children to lose child care assistance by 2010. To halt this trend, Alexi supports efforts to increase child care funding through the Child Care and Development Fund. The $2 billion in Recovery Act funds were a good start, but Alexi supports restoring full funding in the federal budget to inflation-adjusted levels.

Under the Child Care Development Block Grant, only parents who place their children in child care are eligible to receive federal assistance. Alexi would like to see equal assistance paid to low-income parents who choose to stay home with their young children rather than place them in care.

MAKE EDUCATION MORE AFFORDABLE
Many parents are forced to work overtime or into retirement to afford to send their children to college. Alexi will work to make higher education more affordable by supporting an expansion of Pell Grants and proposing new financial incentives and tax credits to make sure any young person who works hard can afford to attend school. Alexi supports indexing the maximum Pell grant to the inflation rate plus 1 percent, and protecting it from future cuts, by exempting the maximum Pell grant level from the appropriations process.

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