Walz missed an opportunity to explain paid family leave — nevermind what the business lobby says

The United States is the only country among 41 rich nations without mandated paid leave. Photo by Getty Images.

Gov. Tim Walz said during a recent “60 Minutes” interview that “We have a paid family and medical leave program that was promoted by the business community.”

Not if you consider the “business community” to comprise the Chamber of Commerce, the Minnesota Business Partnership and the National Federation of Independent Business, which all opposed the plan.

There was a lot of tsk-tsking on the internet about this, given Walz’s lengthening list of embellishments.

But why is Walz fighting on this terrain in the first place? It’s like he’s internalized the ethos of Reaganomics and Calvin Coolidge’s inanity, “The business of America is business.”

Businesses are primarily concerned with maximizing shareholder value, e.g., making money.

Here’s what else the American business lobby has opposed over the years: child labor laws; the minimum wage; overtime; the ban on leaded gasoline; airbags and seatbelts; the Americans with Disabilities Act; and, of course, unions.

Government, by contrast, is concerned with protecting the health and safety, welfare and freedom of the people.

These are very different aims.

Sometimes their interests align. The government and business both want political and economic stability and security. Business can’t function in chaos, and the government’s whole reason for being is to prevent chaos.

But other times their interests will diverge. In search of profit, businesses want to reduce labor costs, including payroll taxes like that required for the paid family and medical leave law that Walz signed in 2023 and will take effect in 2026. (The total tax is 0.88%, split between workers and employers.)

Walz missed a critical opportunity to explain — a la Sen. Bernie Sanders — why he and Democrats support paid leave over the objections of big business. Like, you’re darn right we give new parents time with their babies! Doing so would have underlined Democrats’ commitment to families in a race that hinges on blue collar workers.

Government, e.g., the people, has an interest in ensuring we can spend time with young children and aging parents and to take care of our own health and wellbeing because these are the most important moments of our lives, and we should be able to experience them without the burden of work. This paid time off will make us healthier and happier and more productive citizens and help the next generation.

After millennia of toil and starvation and war and every other damned thing, we’ve earned this as a species.

The rest of the wealthy world has figured this out. Among 41 other rich nations, the United States is the sole country without paid family leave.

Thankfully, Minnesota has joined a handful of other states like Colorado, Massachusetts, Connecticut and Washington in giving people paid time off.

(Many Minnesota businesses, including 3M, Cargill and Medtronic, are operating in those very places.)

It can’t come soon enough. The U.S. Surgeon General recently issued an advisory for parents, one-third of whom report high levels of stress in the past month compared to 20% of other adults. “When stress is severe or prolonged, it can have a harmful effect on the mental health of parents and caregivers, which in turn also affects the well- being of the children they raise.”

Business is focused on profit in the next year or two — or five for the truly long-term thinkers — and they can’t concern themselves with what our society will look like in 20 or 50 years.

That’s why elected officials must take the longer view and consider how today’s policies — like giving parents time to bond with their young children — will affect us in decades hence, not how it will affect companies’ bottom line next year.

Elected officials should consult with the business lobby on the potential impact of their proposals, as they do with unions and religious leaders and single-issue nonprofits and other interest groups.

But sometimes — not always, but from time to time — when someone asks what the business lobby thinks about an important societal priority like whether people should get to spend time with their new baby, the proper answer is: Who cares?