Today, U.S. Senator Deb Fischer (R-Neb.), a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, questioned Small Business Administration (SBA) Administrator Kelly Loeffler on her commitment to implement her Paid Family and Medical Leave Tax Credit (PFML)—the only national PFML policy ever enacted into federal law. She highlighted that her bill now requires the SBA to do targeted education, outreach, and technical assistance on the credit to inform employers how they can use it.

Earlier this month, the House Ways & Means Committee included Fischer’s Paid Family and Medical Leave Tax Credit Extension and Enhancement Act in their tax bill as part of the House reconciliation package.

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On Supporting Fischer’s Paid Family and Medical Leave Tax Credit for Small Businesses:

Fischer: As you know, in the 2017 tax bill, it included my bill to create a tax credit for employers who offer paid family and medical leave to their employees. The credit is the only national paid family medical leave policy that has ever been enacted into federal law. The credit expires at the end of this year, and I've introduced legislation to make a couple of tweaks to make the credit permanent. I was pleased to see that the House included my bill in their tax package, and I look forward to working with my Senate colleagues to see that it is included in the final product. I believe that the SBA can play a critical role in increasing awareness of the credit.

One of the tweaks we made in the bill was to require SBA to do targeted education, outreach, and technical assistance on the credit and how employers can use this. And when we designed the bill, our hope was that small businesses would be able to take advantage of it to offer their hourly employees a paid family medical leave that many of them do not have the opportunity to have as employees from larger businesses and corporations have that.

We know that over 75% of small business owners support a federal financial incentive for small employers to provide paid leave benefits. Another survey tells us that for small business owners who don't offer paid leave, over 58% reported that while they wanted to, they couldn't afford to. So, I think awareness, education, assistance are keys here, and I think the SBA will play a large role in helping to get the word out.

Again, this is a tax credit, pro-business, pro-family, not a mandate, not a new entitlement. Like in FY 25, I also intend to secure funding for the SBA to conduct that outreach. Can you commit to me that SBA will carry out this work diligently and quickly once we're able to get the authority and the funding to do the work?

Loeffler: Well Senator, thank you for your leadership in this important area, and you brought it to my attention during my confirmation process. So, I'm pleased to hear that it's progressed, and it's timely, because we at the SBA have refocused on our field organization in our 68 regional offices, and as you just heard, our 1,000 small business development centers that would be an excellent conduit to support awareness and implementation and support. It's one more reason that this tax bill is so critical to small businesses across this country, so I look forward to learning more about that with you and your team and welcome the conversation.


Background on Fischer’s work on Paid Family and Medical Leave:

Fischer and Senator Angus King (I-Maine) established the country’s first-ever nationwide PFML policy, which was included in the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act and implemented in 2018. Fischer and King reintroduced the bill in February, which builds upon the 2017 law to better serve working families. It also provides additional ways for businesses to qualify for the paid leave tax credit, such as paying for PFML insurance products, and requires greater outreach efforts to raise awareness about the credit.