By RFD Radio/WFMB

SPRINGFIELD – U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth has joined colleagues in promoting major paid family and medical leave legislation.

Their proposal, labeled the FAMILY Act, would provide up to 12 weeks of paid leave for workers who need time to care for a newborn or adopted child, a seriously ill family member, or their own serious health condition. Duckworth said after her husband helped care for her after she lost her legs in a war zone helicopter crash, she doesn’t need a focus group to understand the issue. She said families and taxpayers would benefit.

“I was better off leaving Walter Reed (National Military Medical Center)’s inpatient program at four months and I was better off the for American taxpayers because I cost less money when I went to outpatient basic, but I could only do that because my husband was my caregiver for the year I spent in the hospital,” Duckworth said.

Senators note less than 40 percent of American workers have access to personal medical leave and just 14 percent have access to paid family leave.