The Paid Leave for All National Bus Tour kicked off from Providence on Monday, beginning a 13 city tour to call on Congress to pass a national paid leave policy as part of the next infrastructure bill. All four members of Rhode Island’s congressional delegation were scheduled to be on hand, but Senators Jack Reed and Sheldon Whitehouse were both in Washington working on the infrastructure bill. United States Representatives James Langevin and David Cicilline, both supporters of a national paid leave program, were on hand.

The United States (along with Papua New Guinea) is one of the only two countries in the world that doesn’t guarantee any form of paid leave – yet paid leave enjoys broad bipartisan support as a top issue for voters in key battleground states heading into 2022.

“We have the opportunity to finally catch up to the rest of the world, to finally do something meaningful for every working family in this country, to build back better and to make history, by finally passing Paid Leave for All in the United States,” said Dawn Huckelbridge, National Director of Paid Leave for All. “Paid leave is a tool for public health, for economic resilience and growth, and for racial and gender equity.”