Meghan Markle Sends Letter Advocating for Paid Parental Leave to Congress in Latest Political Inroad

Earlier, US President Joe Biden cut funding for a national family paid leave programme in the "Build Back Better" budget reconciliation bill, informing Democrats at a White House meeting on Wednesday that the proposed legislation will provide four weeks of paid leave benefits instead of the 12 weeks initially touted.

Meghan Markle has forayed openly into American politics, publishing an open letter addressed to Senate Majority Leader, Democrat Chuck Schumer, and House Speaker, Nancy Pelosi, advocating for paid leave.

Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex has written a letter to @SpeakerPelosi and @SenSchumer about the urgent need for #PaidLeaveForAll in the US. It’s time, she says, to ensure that millions of American families who need and deserve guaranteed paid leave are given just that👇🏻 pic.twitter.com/fAdNj8ZhRp

— Omid Scobie (@scobie) October 20, 2021

In the memo, made public via the Paid Leave for All website, the national organization of campaigns for family and medical leave, the Duchess of Sussex urges a federal guarantee that parents can take compensated time off after the birth of a child.

"I’m writing to you on behalf of millions of American families who are using their voices to say that comprehensive paid leave should not be a place to compromise or negotiate. In fact, most nations already have paid leave policies in place," wrote Markle.

The wife of Prince Harry, sixth in the line of succession to the British throne, deplored the fact that the United States currently "does not federally guarantee any person a single day of paid leave. And fewer than one in four workers has dedicated paid family leave through their employer."

In this Wednesday May 8, 2019 file photo Britain's Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, pose during a photocall with their newborn son Archie, in St George's Hall at Windsor Castle, Windsor, south England. The Duchess of Sussex has revealed that she had a miscarriage in July. Meghan described the experience in an opinion piece in the New York Times on Wednesday. She wrote: "I knew, as I clutched my firstborn child, that I was losing my second." The former Meghan Markle and husband Prince Harry have a son, Archie, born in 2019.

© AP Photo / Dominic Lipinski

Meghan Markle, who together with her husband has been residing in the US since quitting royal life in 2020, also shared her personal experience following the birth of her daughter Lilibet "Lili" Diana Mountbatten-Windsor.

"In June, my husband and I welcomed our second child. Like any parents, we were overjoyed. Like many parents, we were overwhelmed. Like fewer parents, we weren’t confronted with the harsh reality of either spending those first few critical months with our baby or going back to work,” wrote Meghan Markle.

The former Suits actress emphasised that no family “should be faced with these decisions.”

Meghan Markle also suggested that the effort to ensure paid leave could become a bipartisan one, possibly helping the Democrats and Republicans work together. "I know how politically charged things can—and have—become. But this isn’t about Right or Left, it’s about right or wrong. This is about putting families above politics. And for a refreshing change, it’s something we all seem to agree on. At a point when everything feels so divisive, let this be a shared goal that unites us," she wrote.

Britain's Prince Harry and Meghan Markle appear onstage at the 2021 Global Citizen Live concert at Central Park in New York, U.S., September 25, 2021

© REUTERS / CAITLIN OCHS

Markle concluded the letter by hoping that this “consequential moment” would not be lost.

Earlier, Democrats in the Senate and House pushed back against a preliminary decision by President Joe Biden to significantly cut funding for a national family paid leave program from the budget reconciliation bill, the vast price tag of which has generated extensive opposition. On Wednesday it was revealed that the proposed legislation would only cover four weeks of paid leave benefits instead of the 12 originally discussed by lawmakers.

A group of 15 Senate Democrats led by Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) sent a letter to Biden, Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) Wednesday, urging them to “include a national paid leave program that is meaningful, comprehensive and permanent in the Build Back Better Act. It must be universal to cover all workers, provide progressive wage replacement to help the lowest wage earners, and cover all existing types of leave with parity.”

Britain's Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, are interviewed by Oprah Winfrey in this undated handout photo

© REUTERS / Handout .

Since stepping away from official duties in early 2020, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have regularly made the headlines, either by dishing the royal dirt in interviews, like the tell-all sit-down with TV host Oprah Winfrey, or by venturing into big business and investment. After the Sussexes forged a number of lucrative multimillion-dollar deals with Netflix, Spotify and Apple, New York-based Ethic sustainable investment group unveiled the couple as impact partners and investors.