Clinton details paid leave plan

Hillary Clinton expanded on her call for paid leave on Thursday, proposing a mandatory seven days of paid sick leave and three months of paid family leave for new parents.

Speaking at a rally in Columbus, Ohio, Clinton promised to be a “strong advocate for families.” While she has previously backed the policies, Clinton laid out those specifics for the first time this week.

{mosads}Americans currently can take up to 12 weeks off of unpaid leave each year to take care of family or new children, but there’s no requirement for paid leave. The U.S. is the only major economic power that doesn’t require businesses to offer paid leave to new mothers. 

“People say to me, ‘How will that work economically?’ Well it works in most of the rest of the advanced economic world and it works in a far-off place known as California,” Clinton said Thursday.

“I know it can work. We just have to make up our minds that we want it to work.”

Clinton’s main Democratic challengers, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Gov. Martin O’Malley (D-Md.), both support the policy. Paid leave has become a legislative priority for Democrats since the start of this year.

The former secretary of State delivered the speech in the swing state of Ohio as Sanders continues to narrow the gap between them in polls. A new Quinnipiac University survey found Sanders leading Clinton in Iowa by 1 percentage point, at 41 percent to 40 percent, despite having an almost 20-point lead two months ago.

She’s also flipped the script on her response to the controversy surrounding her email, which many point to as a reason for her sliding poll numbers, and explicitly apologized during an interview this week on ABC for using a personal server as secretary of State.

During the Thursday speech, Clinton promised to work on not only large-scale issues such as terrorism or Russian aggression, but also on issues that hit voters close to home.

“I also want to be the president who helps work on those problems that keep you up at night,” she said. 

“What happens when you finally get that job and you can’t find affordable child care you can trust? What happens when you work really hard to support yourself and your family and you want to go back to school but can’t afford it?”