1. United States
2. Va.
3. Letter

I am writing to you as a constituent to urge immediate legislative action on an issue that directly impacts the financial security and dignity of millions of working families: guaranteed national paid family and medical leave. Under our current system, millions of everyday Americans are forced to make an agonizing choice between caring for a newborn, supporting a sick family member, or recovering from a personal illness, and keeping food on the table. Yet, members of the United States Congress rightly continue to draw their full salaries and maintain comprehensive benefits when personal health crises or extended absences arise. If our elected leaders can step away from their duties for weeks or months to focus on health and family without fearing financial ruin, the working people of this country deserve that exact same standard of care. Congressional benefits should set the precedent for American labor standards, not exist as an exclusive privilege for lawmakers. To close this gap, I urge you to introduce or co-sponsor legislation guaranteeing national paid leave—a bill that could be fittingly titled the Maternal, Infant, and Treatment Care for Households (MITCH) Act. Core principles of this legislation should include: Guaranteed Medical & Sick Leave: Ensuring wage protection during personal medical treatment or prolonged recovery. Universal Parental Leave: Protected paid time off for the birth, adoption, or placement of a new child. Labor Parity: Codifying the standard that the baseline protections afforded to federal lawmakers must extend to the citizens they represent. When illness strikes or a family expands, no American worker should face economic devastation while watching their representatives enjoy protections denied to the public. Aligning federal labor policy with the reality of human needs is both sound economic policy and a matter of basic fairness. I request a response detailing your position on guaranteed national paid family and medical leave, and I hope to see you take a leadership role in bringing leave parity to all American workers.