Good afternoon,

Late Friday night, the Senate passed the six-bill funding "minibus" and sent it for President Biden's signature to dodge a shutdown of the Agriculture, Commerce, Energy, Housing and Urban Development, Interior, Justice, and Transportation departments. The clock has now started ticking for the remaining six bills, which are due March 22.

In the midst of the overdue 2024 funding, President Biden has sprung forward and released his 2025 budget on time. Echoing the sentiments in his State of the Union address, here are some of his priorities:

• Expand workforce training and provide pathways to in-demand jobs for more Americans;
• Connect more rural Americans to high-speed, affordable, and reliable internet;
• Promote maternal health and health equity, and expand access to treatment for substance use disorders;
• Lower energy costs and catalyze clean energy and economic growth in rural communities;
• Bolster the nutrition safety net;
• Increase climate resilience and other conservation practices in agriculture;
• Reduce housing insecurity and strengthen climate resiliency in rural communities; and
• Support better delivery of services to rural America and the nation's farmers.

Here's what else you need to know this week...

EQUAL PAY DAY AND PAID FAMILY LEAVE

• It's equal pay day. With women earning only 84 cents for every dollar men earn, women in the U.S. have to work an additional 72 days to make as much money as men made in 2023. In other words, women would have to work six years to earn as much as men make in only five.
• And thanks to occupational segregation, devaluation of women's work, and other maddening forms of discrimination, Black and Latina women make even less – 69.8 and 64.6 cents less, respectively.
• Part of the reason women are paid less than men is because they take more leave – 34 days versus 21 days – a discrepancy driven primarily because women take, on average, 54 days of leave when welcoming a new child, whereas men take only 18 days. These caretaking responsibilities incur what's known as the "motherhood penalty."

Average length of leave in business days, overall and by reason, by gender

• Paid family leave (PFL) may be able to help close the gap. The United States is one of only seven countries without national paid maternity leave, forcing Americans to take unpaid leave or leave the workforce entirely and costing them an estimated $22.5 billion in wages every year.
• OCP proposed including a program that would support 12 weeks of paid family and medical leave in the Farm Bill.
• Providing new parents with paid time off to care for newborns or newly adopted children contributes to healthy development, improves maternal health, and enhances economic security. The reduction in financial stress and insecurity increases the likelihood of a return to the workforce – improving worker retention, increasing productivity, and boosting workforce participation – and ensures greater family stability.
• Most recently, a family medical leave bill passed in the Virginia Legislature. Governor Glenn Youngkin has until April 8 to sign the bill, which would guarantee 8 weeks of paid leave for Virginians. Learn about the status of paid leave in your state.

WORKING WOMEN

• The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released its February jobs report last Friday, on International Women's Day.
• 275,000 jobs were added to the labor market in February, contributing to the 15 million jobs created under President Biden's administration. Women suffered greater job losses than men during the Covid-19 pandemic, but have since driven post-pandemic job growth to surpass March 2020 levels. Some of these jobs have been driven by the increase in women-owned businesses across the nation.
• But in order for women to keep opening small businesses, creating jobs, and bolstering their local economies, they need policies like paid family leave that are pro-worker and pro-family. Read OCP's full statement here.

• CNN: Prices ticked higher in February, but there's good news at grocery store

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