On April 28, 2021, in his first presidential address to Congress, President Joe Biden announced his American Families Plan. Biden intended it as a follow up to the American Rescue Plan, which provided relief to families and communities impacted by the coronavirus pandemic. Among the elements in the plan is one calling for a paid family and medical leave program. The Families Plan version of the paid leave takes several of the elements of the Family Act, which was proposed by House Democrats in 2019 but failed to reach a floor vote.
The currently proposed Families Plan would provide paid leave on a basis similar to the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), which currently provides unpaid leave of up to 12 weeks. The paid Families Plan would be a social insurance model similar to those implemented in several states, as well as the District of Columbia. Like the proposed Family Act, it would be administered through a new office to be known as the Office of Paid Family and Medical Leave within the Social Security Administration.