The United States is one of the only countries on Earth that doesn’t guarantee new parents paid leave after a child is born — time to recover, bond with a newborn, and get on your feet as a new family. Only about one in four private-sector workers has access to it, and among the lowest-wage workers, virtually none do. The rest must cobble together vacation days, sick time, or unpaid leave, if they can afford to take any time off at all.

The common assumption is that America just doesn’t care enough about parents to fix this problem. But the policy has actually long drawn broad bipartisan support in the United States .

Key takeaways

The US has bundled parental leave with broader medical and caregiving leave for 30-plus years, and that all-or-nothing approach keeps failing on the federal level.

The comprehensive approach excludes many new parents due to work-history requirements, and doesn’t replace enough income for low-income families to actually use it.…