John,

This week, the Senate will take what could be the only paid leave votes this Congress.

They’ll consider two motions — one pretty good, the other very bad — to add paid leave language to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). If they pass the good one, it could extend the protection of paid leave to more than 2 million federal employees who don’t currently have it. And, as the nation’s biggest employer, what the government does sets an example for the rest of the country.

It’s important that our Senators hear from us TODAY. Will you take a moment to call your Senators at (202) 224-3121 today? That number will connect you to the Senate Switchboard, where an operator will transfer you to your Senator. Once you're connected, tell them, “Please support the Schatz motion to instruct NDAA conferees to include the House-passed Federal Employee Paid Leave Act in the final conference agreement?”

Here’s the deal. The NDAA is the bill that keeps the military funded, and it has to pass every year. This year, the House and Senate passed different versions of the bill, so the two versions will go to a conference committee to work out the differences.

One of the differences is that the House included an amendment, called the Federal Employee Paid Leave Act (FEPLA), which would expand paid family leave throughout the federal workforce. That would obviously be good for workers in all the usual ways, plus it would save the government money and help attract and retain workers, while also providing a model for policies all working people need.

As the Senate takes procedural votes on sending the NDAA to conference, they will vote on two key paid leave measures. The first is a pro-paid leave motion to instruct (MTI) by Senator Schatz to instruct the NDAA conferees to include the FEPLA in the final conference agreement. The second is a harmful motion to instruct by Leader McConnell to instead instruct the conferees to consider “commonsense” paid leave approaches like voluntary comp time and tax incentives. The McConnell MTI is an attempt to block real paid leave for federal employees.

This is a huge opportunity to get Senators on the record about not just FEPLA, but paid leave in general. We need all hands on deck to support the Schatz motion, and oppose the McConnell motion. Will you call the Senate Switchboard today at (202) 224-3121 to be connected to your Senators?

This is an incredibly critical vote – we want to show strong support for real paid leave solutions like FEPLA, and make sure we don’t slow down momentum on the FAMILY Act in favor of comp time and tax incentives.

Thanks for your support,

Namatie, Josie, Charlotte, and the Caring Across team

PS — If you’re on Twitter, you can help send the message by tweeting at your Senators, and telling them to vote for the FEPLA. See how here.