Dear Congress,

The midterm elections saw an unprecedented level of participation from voters passionately engaging in the process of creating a future that delivers for the American people.

In many areas voters supported different visions for that future, but on paid family leave there is near unanimous agreement. If your experience of talking to people across the country is anywhere close to ours, that might not be a surprise.

In the U.S. today, 1 in 4 mothers are forced to leave their babies within two weeks of giving birth. People caring for their parents are more likely to fall into poverty. And those who get cancer or have a heart attack are going into bankruptcy because they can’t work while they recover. Without paid family leave, 85 percent of people in the U.S. are a moment away from a family economic crisis.

Voters don’t just understand this theoretically: they experience it in their daily lives, and they want it changed.

94% of Democratic voters and 74% of Republican voters support paid family leave. With Democratic control of the House and Republican control of the Senate, paid family leave is one of the few issues that could successfully deliver on the hopes and dreams of the American people.

Congress does not need to reinvent the wheel. States have proven that a public insurance program, where everyone pays in a little, works. And small and large businesses alike have demonstrated that when they adopt robust paid family leave policies, they reap positive benefits.

I invite you to become a champion for paid family leave. I want you to listen to the experiences of constituents like me and make moving paid family leave in the 116th Congress a real priority.