This bill establishes federal grants to support and improve existing state paid family leave programs while creating an interstate network to standardize paid leave policies and administration across state lines.
Stephanie Bice
Representative
OK-5
The More Paid Leave for More Americans Act aims to enhance paid family leave by establishing a federal grant program to support and improve existing state-level paid leave laws. It also creates the Interstate Paid Leave Action Network (IPLAN) to encourage states to standardize definitions, administration, and benefit coordination across state lines. This dual approach seeks to increase the quality of benefits for workers while simplifying compliance for employers operating in multiple states.
Federal Grants Offer 6 Weeks Paid Leave for New Parents in Participating States, but at the Cost of Tariff Enforcement Funds
This bill, officially titled the “More Paid Leave for More Americans Act,” is essentially a federal incentive program aimed at boosting paid family leave access across the country. It doesn’t create a national paid leave mandate, but instead offers millions in grant money to states that already have, or are willing to create, paid family leave programs that meet specific federal minimums. The focus is strictly on leave for a new child—either through birth or adoption.
To qualify for this federal cash, a state’s program must offer at least six weeks of paid leave and establish a maximum weekly benefit that is 150% of the state’s average weekly wage (Sec. 101). Crucially, the bill sets up a complicated sliding scale for benefit calculation designed to heavily favor lower-income workers. If you earn less than the federal poverty line for a family of four, you get 67% of your average weekly wage replaced. The benefit gradually drops to 50% replacement for those earning double the poverty line or more (Sec. 101).
The Interstate Paid Leave Action Network (IPLAN)
The biggest administrative change here is the creation of the Interstate Paid Leave Action Network, or IPLAN (Sec. 202). Think of IPLAN as the DMV for paid leave—but hopefully more efficient. States that accept the grants must join this network, which is tasked with standardizing definitions (like what counts as a “base period” for earnings or who is a “family member”) and administrative procedures. The goal is to solve a major headache for workers and multi-state employers: portability.
Right now, if you work in three different states over two years, figuring out your eligibility and benefits can be a nightmare. IPLAN aims to create a single claims process so that only one state handles your claim, using your work history from all participating states to calculate your benefits (Sec. 202). This is huge for construction workers, traveling nurses, or anyone whose career requires them to cross state lines. The bill authorizes funding for a national intermediary organization to run the network, build shared technology, and provide technical support to states for five years (Sec. 203).
What It Means for Your Paycheck and Your Employer
If your state participates, the grant money can be used to cover initial setup costs, outreach, and even help small businesses cover their payroll contributions (Sec. 204). The bill also requires that if a state mandates employer participation, the state must allow employers to self-administer the benefit, provided they meet or beat the state’s minimum requirements (Sec. 101). For large employers with great existing benefits, this offers flexibility. For others, it means new administrative burdens, even if the goal is standardization.
The Trade-Offs and the Fine Print
While the grant money is meant to help states, the bill is not without its eyebrow-raising funding decisions. To help pay for the new program, the bill rescinds $10 million from the funding authorized for tariff enforcement (Sec. 104). This means less money available to catch trade violations. Additionally, the bill mandates the immediate termination of specific existing Department of Defense contracts related to golf courses and permanently cancels any unspent funds associated with those contracts (Sec. 104). It’s a classic move: fund a new priority by cutting funding from unrelated, existing programs.
Finally, the Secretary of Labor gets significant authority here. They can prioritize grants based on a state’s plan to help low-income workers or their use of off-the-shelf software (Sec. 101). More critically, the Secretary can withhold grant money from a state if they determine, six months after a warning, that the state is not participating in the IPLAN in “good faith” (Sec. 204). Since “good faith” isn't precisely defined, this gives the federal government a powerful lever to ensure states comply with the network’s rules, even if they later disagree with them.