The bipartisan Senate team of Bill Cassidy and Kyrsten Sinema suggest letting parents borrow up to $5,000 to fund time off upon the birth of a child — and then pay the money back by receiving less of a child tax credit for the next ten years. The current maximum credit is $2,000; those who took paid leave would get up to $1,500. Poorer families could receive “the equivalent of 12 weeks wage replacement” and pay it back over 15 years.
This is similar to the idea of letting parents borrow against their future Social Security payments. It creates a new benefit by adding flexibility to existing benefits, rather than by expanding the government. In fact, you could have both policies at once: Let parents take leave, and let them pick whether to pay it back out of the child credit or Social Security.
My one niggle is that it will slightly ding the deficit if people are allowed to borrow $5,000 and then pay back exactly $5,000, with no interest or adjustment for inflation.