At the stroke of 8 tonight, the House voted not to pass the biggest threat to Maine’s Paid Family and Medical Leave program. Tomorrow it heads to the Senate (where they killed two bad bills today). Today was a real nail-biter- there were surprise amendments, reports were that “the vibes are very bad.” But overcoming this hurdle means that we are more likely to hold our win. There could be more shake-ups- one thing that we have learned in State House work is to never say never until the ink is dry… and then plan to keep coming back again and again. But tonight, we are feeling happy and hopeful. Paid family and medical leave is one of the most transformative programs for working families. It truly saves lives, and in 11 short months, it will go to work in Maine 🩷⭐️💪🏾 #PaidLeaveforAll #PaidLeave4ME #CareCantWait (fb)

Here's where we'll be for the next couple of days, awaiting the floor votes on all the bad bills that would delay and destabilize Maine's Paid Family and Medical Leave law. As of today, there are some late-breaking amendments that have suddenly arisen, and we're trying to track down all the details on them. No matter what, we are here in the State House, representing the thousands of Mainers that worked so hard to build this groundbreaking program. We remain hopeful that by the end of this week, Maine Paid Family Leave will remain just as it is right now: a program designed by Mainers, for Mainers, to help working families care for themselves and their loved ones. (fb)