On Thursday, U.S. Senate candidate Alexi Giannoulias outlined a set of proposals to help workers balance responsibilities at home and in the workplace. One provision he explicitly supported was the implementation of a nationwide paid family leave program.  The proposal is modeled after a California law that offers workers who contribute to the State Disability Insurance (SDI) fund six weeks of partial pay each year to "bond with a newborn baby, adopted or foster child; and care for a seriously ill parent, child, spouse or registered domestic partner."

On WLS Radio's Don Wade and Roma this morning, Republican Senate nominee Mark Kirk went on record in opposition to paid family leave, suggesting it adds "cost upon cost" to employers:

DON: [Paid family leave] is just another way of reaching into somebody's pocket because employers will pass that cost onto the customers.

KIRK: That's right, adding cost upon cost. This requirement would increase employer's cost. Of course, the recent health care legislation included 12 new federal taxes in it. And Washington leaders are moving towards having Congress consider a new national sales tax called a Value Added Tax. By the way, the VAT tax in Greece has just gone form 21 to 23 percent. That's the direction they would like to go. I think it's the wrong way to go. I think we have got to cut government spending.

Since 1993, federal law guarantees 12 weeks of unpaid leave for those working for larger employers. A 2007 McGill University study of 173 countries found that the United States was one of just four (along with Liberia, Swaziland, and Papua New Guinea) that does not guarantee paid maternity leave. In 2008, the U.S. House passed a modest bill requiring four weeks of paid leave for federal employees, but the Senate never took up companion legislation.