Military families: the parental-leave claim
What they say
His campaign says his first bill to pass the House expanded parental leave for military parents.
“His first bill that passed the House of Representatives expanded parental leave for military parents, ensuring those who serve our country have time with new children.”
In their own words, dated
“That's how we passed parental leave for National Guard families, rural housing, and the biggest working families tax cut in American history into law.”
What the record shows ·
The first bill he sponsored that passed the House was H.R. 5119, the Protect Small Business and Prevent Illicit Financial Activity Act, on December 12, 2023; it concerns beneficial-ownership reporting, not parental leave. Across the 118th and 119th Congresses he sponsored no bill on parental leave, and none of the nine floor amendments he offered, eight of which were agreed to and one withdrawn, concerned it. He did cosponsor two parental-leave bills. He was one of three cosponsors, and an original cosponsor, of the Reserve Component Parental Leave Parity Act (H.R. 2597, 2023), which would have given parental leave to members of the National Guard and other reserve components; it never passed as a standalone bill, but the same provision was enacted as section 601 of the fiscal year 2024 defense act, which he voted for on December 14, 2023 and which became Public Law 118-31 and created section 711 of title 10. He was the sole cosponsor of the Coast Guard Reserve Parental Leave Parity Act (H.R. 7952, 2024), which also never passed as a standalone bill; section 603 of Public Law 118-159, the fiscal year 2025 defense act, which he voted for on December 11, 2024, extended that same section 711 to the Coast Guard Reserve.
Limit: The leave became law inside the 2024 defense act, from a bill he cosponsored and voted for. It was not his first bill to pass the House; that was H.R. 5119, two days earlier.