EP53: What a U.S. Congressman Can Do For Dads Artwork

The Company of Dads Podcast

Paul Sullivan, former NY Times columnist, explores the lives, stories, joys, and challenges of Lead Dads – fathers who lead in raising children, supporting their partner, and balancing their career. New episode drops every Tuesday.

All Episodes

The Company of Dads Podcast

EP53: What a U.S. Congressman Can Do For Dads

January 24, 2023 • Paul Sullivan • Season 1 • Episode 53

Interview with Jimmy Gomez (& his infant son) / America's Most Famous Lead Dad

HOSTED BY PAUL SULLIVAN

Congressman Jimmy Gomez, who represents Los Angeles in the House of Representatives, put his 4-month-old son Hodge into a baby sling and voted with him for Speaker of the House - again and again. What began as a proud father moment at the start of the week of voting became a family necessity for the Democrat: his wife, a deputy mayor for the city of L.A., had to go back to work and the new parents didn't have any childcare. Listen to the Congressman's thoughts on improving childcare in America, paid paternity leave and whether he'd ask a Republican to babysit.

---

Get our free newsletter covering all things fatherhood delivered straight to your inbox: https://thecompanyofdads.com/thedad/

00;00;05;09 - 00;00;28;18
Paul Sullivan
Welcome to the Company of Dads podcast, where we explore the sweet, sublime, strange and silly aspects of being a dad in a world where men often feel they have to hide or at least not talk about their parenting role. One thing I know from personal experience is being a dad is not a traditional role for men. Whether you work full time, part time to devote all your time to your family, parenting is so often left to mothers for paid caregivers.

00;00;28;21 - 00;00;49;04
Paul Sullivan
But here at the Company of Dads, our goal is to shake all that off and create a community for fathers who are only dads, and to welcome other dads who want to learn from them. I'm your host, Paul Sullivan, and today my guest is the most famous lead dad in America, Congressman Jimmy Gomez, who represents California's 34th district.

00;00;49;05 - 00;01;17;24
Paul Sullivan
For non Angelinos, that's a part of the city where the Dodgers play baseball and the Lakers take to the court. He serves in the powerful House ways and Means Committee and also on the House Oversight Committee. His wife, Mary, is deputy mayor of city services in Los Angeles. They have a four month old, soon to be five month old son, Hotch, and during the vote for the speaker of the House, Congressman Gomez showed up to work with his son, Hodge slung across his chest, and they voted together.

00;01;17;26 - 00;01;34;09
Paul Sullivan
The photos went viral. Now lots of representatives show up with their families as they're sworn in. But there is something about a dad and his son voting as one that resonates. So we've got a lot to talk about today. Congressman Gomez, welcome to the Company of Dads podcast.

00;01;34;11 - 00;01;36;03
Jimmy Gomez
Thank you for having me.

00;01;36;06 - 00;01;58;24
Paul Sullivan
All right, I know you got you. We got a guest here I know. I just, camera there. But I, you know, I've got three daughters, five, ten and 13. And, you know, personally, I'll admit this. I was partial to the the Baby Bjorn and later a backpack. You know, where they buy bang on mobile? They talk about your your your sling, you know?

00;01;59;01 - 00;02;03;26
Paul Sullivan
It had to have some, some buying and picking out. How did that how did that come about?

00;02;03;29 - 00;02;22;20
Jimmy Gomez
My my wife and I, we got them as gifts. Well, go go back before we even had kids. My wife and I were discussing. Okay. Like, you know, you're a member of Congress. I'm here in LA. Like, I'm going to be watching them 3 or 4 days a week, and you're going to be, like, coming back, and then you're going to have events, what you could do.

00;02;22;20 - 00;02;41;29
Jimmy Gomez
And I said, well, just give me the kid. I'll just throw them on my back. Right. And it was that was kind of like I always knew I would, I would be wearing them on my back or my chest somehow. So that's how like the concept we were thinking about. It started, but, we got different gifts. We had one of the, the, the one with the cloth.

00;02;42;01 - 00;02;58;00
Jimmy Gomez
One of our friends was really into wraps back in the day when she was doing, she had a kit, and then, we just, tried different ones, but the one that, I took them on to the floor with was like, a coney, and that was just, And that one had straps, so it made it more adjustable, and that one's pretty.

00;02;58;02 - 00;03;16;16
Jimmy Gomez
He likes said it's comfortable, but I wear it differently. And I guess I've read that guys like to have their babies facing out and like to have their the kids facing in. And, so for me, that's kind of how we, we, we chose it. It was just, you know, and then I found one that has like a little seat that I use when I go on long walks.

00;03;16;16 - 00;03;17;21
Jimmy Gomez
So he feels a little more.

00;03;17;21 - 00;03;18;24
Paul Sullivan
Yeah. Bouncing up and down.

00;03;18;27 - 00;03;35;18
Jimmy Gomez
Yeah. Yeah. So. But no, it's, it depends on which one he likes at the time. But, you know, when their heads a little bit, not as sturdy as you go with the ones that kind of keep them. Keep them close. But I think he likes the ones that are facing out. And eventually it's the best thing eventually for me.

00;03;35;19 - 00;03;38;25
Jimmy Gomez
He knocks out. He'll. He'll fall asleep if he's not. Yeah.

00;03;38;27 - 00;03;53;10
Paul Sullivan
Yeah. Well, I have to ask that. You know, you obviously had the inside line much more than the rest of us Americans watching the vote for for speaker of the House. You know, I don't think any of us at home thought it would go, you know, as many days as it did as many rounds as it did.

00;03;53;11 - 00;04;03;05
Paul Sullivan
Was he with you for for all the votes or at some point, is there a place for him to to nap in the in the house? What did he do as you went? You know, round and round and round of voting.

00;04;03;07 - 00;04;24;02
Jimmy Gomez
So originally, like I was, I wanted to bring him onto the floor before. Like before he was born. I told my wife I wanted to bring him onto the floor just so that, you know, I'm. I'm proud, proud of having a son, even. Or daughter. I don't know what I was going to have. And I was like, okay, where I want to or whoever, whenever they're born, I want to bring them onto the floor when I'm getting sworn in.

00;04;24;02 - 00;04;44;04
Jimmy Gomez
Just kind of as a as a proud father, as a, you know, as an American and kind of like, have them there. So I took them. I took them on to the floor without a sling in the morning when we started at 12, 12 noon. And as the time went on, then, my wife was sitting in the back in a what we call the, Democratic cloakroom.

00;04;44;10 - 00;05;03;20
Jimmy Gomez
And it's kind of a long, narrow room where there's like, snacks and some chairs and, and people can make phone calls. So, he was sitting back there with her. And then as each vote kind of dragged on and it became longer and longer, I was like, okay, why don't you just give them to me and I'll put them into the into the wrap and they'll walk around with them.

00;05;03;20 - 00;05;22;18
Jimmy Gomez
But we were walking around the floor before that and people were like, you know, my friends were holding him. He was like, he was loving every minute of it. So it was, there was a place for him to kind of, like, chill out in the stroller with Mary, but it was, Yeah, I wasn't expecting it to go on and on and on.

00;05;22;18 - 00;05;41;21
Jimmy Gomez
Like I thought it was going to go on for a little bit, but I didn't expect it. So he was with me that first day, the whole the whole day. And that's when I took him on to the floor for that, that last vote where everybody kind of saw me with him on sling. And then, after that he came back a few times the next the I think that was a Tuesday.

00;05;41;21 - 00;05;59;09
Jimmy Gomez
On Wednesday he was there a few times and then on, but my wife had to go back on, to work on Thursday. And that's when we were all supposed to go back. This thing was supposed to be done. Yeah, because we didn't have childcare back in L.A. and then we didn't have childcare and, and DC, I said, you know what?

00;05;59;09 - 00;06;18;23
Jimmy Gomez
Just give, you know, I'll just take them. You know, we've been sooner or later I have to be the one taken care of by myself. Yeah. It's just we're going to have to travel all the way back to LA by yourself with the kid. And I was like, that's fine. And, so we, So that's how we, I took him a few times, but on Thursday, I kind of kept him off the floor a little bit.

00;06;18;23 - 00;06;26;18
Jimmy Gomez
And as well as, Friday, I'll just kind of walk, go vote, go back to my office and chill out with him. And I have a little bassinet there.

00;06;26;20 - 00;06;49;23
Paul Sullivan
I have to say the picture. There's a great photo of you, flying back with him, and you were asking for for tips on the long flight. I got to tell you this, buddy, you know, it's he's good. Now, this is his. This is as easy as it gets. Like, once he hits 20 months, like, fly with him now, a lot build up points, you know, because between, like, 20 months in five years, it's going to be.

00;06;49;23 - 00;06;52;05
Paul Sullivan
It's going to be some form of misery.

00;06;52;08 - 00;07;16;05
Jimmy Gomez
Now I well, I never understood how narrow, how close those, the rows are until you're like, with a kid and you're like, how am I supposed to, like, hold on to this kid, the baby, you know, on my lap with, like, when you get a, soft drink or a drink. Yeah. Get him a bottle. I mean, it is a lot harder than that than I ever thought it would be.

00;07;16;07 - 00;07;37;15
Paul Sullivan
Yeah, absolutely. So I'll. I'll talk to you. Your role as a as a congressman, as in and before we'll get into the Assembly, later on the interview. But, you know, I have great memories of my, congressman growing up in Massachusetts. He was, at the time, the first one was, was Eddie Boland. And my grandfather, who worked in the post office, would take me to events with him, you know, potluck type stuff.

00;07;37;15 - 00;08;06;24
Paul Sullivan
Loved it. And I'm sure you know, Eddie Bowen's replacement, is is one of your colleagues, you know, Richie Neal, the ranking member on the the Ways and Means Committee. I grew up in Springfield, where Richie Neal was mayor before getting elected to Congress. And I want to talk a lot, a little bit about that. That committee, you know, it has jurisdiction for people who don't know jurisdiction over taxation, you know, tariffs, revenue raising measures as well as, you know, some programs of security, but also enforcement of child support laws, temperatures for needy families.

00;08;06;26 - 00;08;23;11
Paul Sullivan
Explain to listeners, you know, in your role as a member of the most powerful, committee in the House, your rules, man, what that committee realistically do or not do to help, you know, working fathers and and working mothers.

00;08;23;13 - 00;08;42;12
Jimmy Gomez
Oh, that's a great question. Well, this is this committee is, extremely powerful, where you have the American Rescue Plan, half of the American Rescue Plan. Think of the trillion dollars. I think of whatever it was that half of it went through ways and means, and it came to an inflation reduction Act. Half of that went through Ways and Means, more than half.

00;08;42;14 - 00;09;05;23
Jimmy Gomez
And, so we have a, I guess our fingerprints on just all sorts of different pieces of legislation, especially the massive ones that require, spending and revenue. But we also have a lot of the social programs. So the child tax credit, that is a that goes through ways and means, that is a ways and means jurisdiction.

00;09;05;26 - 00;09;27;24
Jimmy Gomez
Program. So, that when we made it advanced, it means that you got paid monthly and then made it fully refundable that you didn't need owe taxes to get that. So that was a, that we did that in ways means and that cut child poverty from 40 to 60%, paid family leave. I actually expanded paid family leave when I was in the state legislature here in California.

00;09;27;27 - 00;09;54;09
Jimmy Gomez
I wanted to work on it in Congress. And people were like, oh, that's nice, right? Because I was a freshman like, you know, get in line. But the minute I got on ways means people were like, oh, okay. Because paid family leave goes through ways and means. So, a lot of these, like when it comes to how do you subsidize childcare that will go through ways and means so that the tax code is powerful, but it's also the social safety net.

00;09;54;11 - 00;10;08;22
Jimmy Gomez
When I in the, in the, in that committee. So it does have a huge impact on, on on families. A lot of people just don't know it. But I in my where a lot of the big pieces of legislation will go through.

00;10;08;25 - 00;10;32;27
Paul Sullivan
Yeah. And you know you mentioned the the child tax credit and you know your vocal one of the votes, you know, you're you're obviously voting for, Congressman Hakeem Jeffries, the Democratic leader for speaker, you know, and and one of the votes, you said that you were voting on behalf of of of you and Hodge, and you said that, you know, one of your goals is to, you know, expand that child tax credit.

00;10;32;27 - 00;10;36;05
Paul Sullivan
If I'm correct, it's $2,000. Is that correct per child?

00;10;36;05 - 00;10;36;29
Jimmy Gomez
Yeah, yeah.

00;10;36;29 - 00;10;56;13
Paul Sullivan
And there was a proposal to increase it to to more. But that got by and I asked that question again please say this in the manner it meant, you know, 2000 better. Nothing. But you know, all my kids are in school now. But you know, last year the cost of of pre-K for my now five year old when she was four was $12,000 a year.

00;10;56;13 - 00;11;12;20
Paul Sullivan
Now, that may sound like a lot of money to some listeners, but that was $300 a week. So that's not crazy when you think you only have ten kids in that, that that class and two teachers and then whoever run the school, they're to make some money. What do we do here? I mean, 2000 a year, $12,000 a is beyond the the ability of many American families.

00;11;12;23 - 00;11;24;28
Paul Sullivan
Hey, $2,000 is better than nothing. But can that, you know, can ways and means do other things have other levers to help these families so that both moms and dads can work and care for their kids?

00;11;25;00 - 00;11;53;25
Jimmy Gomez
Yeah. It can. So the child so the child tax credit is one, one part of it, that is just, it helps families, essentially, live a little bit easier. And the way we're right now, it benefits basically people who work enough that the owed taxes are the ones that benefit. Right? The people that are lower income, that are often don't have the child, child care that are struggling more, that are like, we're living paycheck to paycheck.

00;11;53;27 - 00;12;15;06
Jimmy Gomez
That's who we kind of leaves a behind. So if we kind of just tweak it a little bit, I mean, think about it, 40 to 60% cut a child poverty just by two little policy changes within that program. But that's one part when it comes to child care. We want to start looking at, how do you, help underwrite, child care, make child care more affordable.

00;12;15;06 - 00;12;35;26
Jimmy Gomez
And that's usually through a tax credit, or some kind of, underwriting of it. But you still have the same problem, like, so we had that and build back better. That didn't make it into the Inflation Reduction Act. You still run into the situation where, how do you help people that don't make enough?

00;12;35;26 - 00;12;56;18
Jimmy Gomez
Right? How do you subsidize, child care for for working, working families. So, there's a lot of policy discussions, but childcare, affordable childcare is, is, is a must. And we and we're also in a situation now with the sandwich generation that are taking care of the parents and then also raising kids are that are more stretched than ever before.

00;12;56;18 - 00;13;18;15
Jimmy Gomez
So the child tax credit and then, how do we, expand, you know, talk that we've done here in California, how do you, make it, national and then how do you make it more affordable? Part of it is that we need a workforce. We don't have the workforce necessary to do that. And then how do you make them also a living wage?

00;13;18;15 - 00;13;44;03
Jimmy Gomez
Jobs? And if anybody knows, like I'm looking for, a nanny or a childcare person, but, a lot of people don't in those industries. Don't want to get paid. On the books. Yeah. On the books. Yeah. So for me, it's that's like my dilemma is that I have to pay. I'm going to pay people on the books because I'm the one in charge of enforcing the tax laws.

00;13;44;05 - 00;13;48;01
Jimmy Gomez
So, but it does make it a little bit more challenging.

00;13;48;04 - 00;14;07;13
Paul Sullivan
We'll talk about the, the the the plan. You know, for, for had your home now in Los Angeles for, for the break you're going to go back and forth to, to DC. Not an easy flight. I mean, it was five, six hours. Your wife has a demanding job working for the city of Los Angeles. I mean, what's the plan for for just it.

00;14;07;13 - 00;14;12;02
Paul Sullivan
Does the House have does House representative have have a child care option or. Yeah.

00;14;12;04 - 00;14;34;18
Jimmy Gomez
Yeah. So, here in LA, it's a, it's a little bit more difficult because people are spread out more. So you have to kind of develop that network and, and in some respects somewhat like this or the kind of like when my wife tried to sign up to, like, these, little, like Facebook groups or whatever over here, they would allow her in.

00;14;34;18 - 00;14;38;20
Jimmy Gomez
And maybe it's because they know what we do and think we don't need the help or, I don't know what it does.

00;14;38;20 - 00;15;07;08
Paul Sullivan
Oh, no. No, no. Okay, so my wife, we live in a town in Connecticut. We, connected that. Jim, Jim Himes is our congressman, and my wife try to get into this group. She needed recommendations to get in to the Facebook mom group for my town. And I think, are you kidding me? And this is one of my pet peeves because it's I mean, again, people are allowed to congregate however they want, but there should be a Facebook like parent group for each town so that, you know, whether it's the mom or the dad who's the go to parent, I can imagine her her frustration.

00;15;07;08 - 00;15;09;01
Paul Sullivan
It's not getting let in. Yeah, yeah.

00;15;09;01 - 00;15;27;24
Jimmy Gomez
So right now what we're trying to do is, my mom was helping us, which was great, but she's 78. And then and she was supposed last week was going to camp like where she was. She flew into a different part of California. That's why she, like, we didn't have the caregiver we needed during that weekend. So I kept them.

00;15;27;27 - 00;15;49;06
Jimmy Gomez
I came back and then she came on Sunday and there and then or Monday, and she took over, caregiving last Monday. But she had an emergency. She ended up having, her, like a hernia. That kind of, became, she had to go to emergency surgery. She's fine. But then we basically had to pivot again last week.

00;15;49;12 - 00;16;07;27
Jimmy Gomez
So, we kind of realized it's like you need, like, 2 or 3 different options because anything can happen at a moment's notice. And we got somebody from a friend of ours who recommended it. But. So right now we're my mom was helping, but we need to find somebody for LA. And then we need to find options for DC.

00;16;07;27 - 00;16;30;04
Jimmy Gomez
If I'm over there that we can kind of, hire them temporarily. But, right now it's, as I'm home, I take care of them, and then, next week, I think my, my niece is going to come and kind of watch them for the week for us. So, we got a and I posted, and an ad on, you know, on a website and then, we'll see what kind of responses I get.

00;16;30;04 - 00;16;31;24
Jimmy Gomez
But sometimes I go, oh, you're.

00;16;31;24 - 00;16;38;22
Paul Sullivan
Gonna have better luck. I mean, he's a cute kid. The whole world has already seen him, you know, voting on the House floor. Yeah.

00;16;38;24 - 00;16;47;17
Jimmy Gomez
The minute I say, oh, we're going to do a payroll service. Okay, I can't do that. So it's, it's, that's the I think for me is the challenging part.

00;16;47;19 - 00;17;09;27
Paul Sullivan
But honestly, there's no question. I mean, this is remarkable because it is so going to inform the work you do as a working father with a young son. You're not, you know, being a congressman. That's an amazing, position. Lots of prestige goes with it. Lots of doors open. But at the end of the day, you got a four month old, soon to be five months.

00;17;09;27 - 00;17;26;21
Paul Sullivan
Somebody has to take care of him. I mean, have any of your your colleagues, you know, giving you you tips? I saw there's a photo of you and, Joaquin Castro from from Texas. Is there any of them giving you tips on how they've managed this with, with childcare and being, you know, a congressman?

00;17;26;23 - 00;17;48;14
Jimmy Gomez
Yeah. They're, everybody's situation is different and it depends on like, like Ruben Gallegos in Arizona. So cost of housing is extremely low. And he has a, we are roommates. When he was he was divorced and we're roommates. And his son would be there. And the diaper with a bottle watching and a paw patrol and. Yeah. And his dad was sitting there, you know, drink coffee.

00;17;48;14 - 00;18;10;02
Jimmy Gomez
It was pretty funny. Like, we're just three guys chilling out, but, like, so everybody's, situation is different. And that's what kind of you get as much information as possible. And then. And then you try to make it work. But a lot of it is, getting multiple, caregiver caregivers, child caregivers, because mom moments.

00;18;10;02 - 00;18;41;05
Jimmy Gomez
Notice something like happens I thought one was going to be enough. So you have to have one primary and then you have to have 2 or 3 backups. Right. And then living in DC as well, I have to have different, different people out there as well as well. But I guess developing that good network of have friends who are in similar situations and, and and kind of go, go like and kind of, making sure that you, you ask for help when, when, when you need it because, everybody needs help sooner or later.

00;18;41;11 - 00;18;59;13
Jimmy Gomez
And yes, he's, in DC. It's funny, I have more, options. For some reason, I have more people like, you know, AOC, it goes, hey, if you need help over the weekend, I'll watch him, like, like so, so some people have offered to, watch hard, but, so, we're kind of picky on who we we let's,

00;18;59;15 - 00;19;12;01
Paul Sullivan
What is it? But could this be a moment of bipartisanship? I mean, are there Republican congressmen or counties? We we're going to step forward. I mean, an a series. I mean, what what is that that, you know, levels usually around around parents and kids.

00;19;12;04 - 00;19;35;13
Jimmy Gomez
You know, I think it's interesting. I was thinking about this and, fam, like, family's policy. You just have a different idea of the role of government, right? Like, as a Democrat, I believe government should help, make life easier for people, especially working class, lower income individuals. And that means that you have programs are specifically tailored to help them.

00;19;35;16 - 00;20;08;28
Jimmy Gomez
You know, the child tax credit, perfect example. It it is it's something that was originally a Republican concept. Most people don't know that. And it's and now the Republicans have kind of moved away from it. Paid family leave. Who who's responsible like the the government, the private sector. So we have fundamental disagreements. I think the Republican plans on paid family leave is like they were like said, you can take money from your Social Security account or something like that, borrow against it so that which would undermine Social Security in the long term.

00;20;09;00 - 00;20;30;03
Jimmy Gomez
So that's kind of we just have fundamental different, ideas on the role of government. And that's where the, the, I guess the, the, the challenges. But if they agree, though, it is like childcare. It's the cost of childcare is a problem. Yeah, that's step one. At least that's one. But, we don't know if that's the case because care.

00;20;30;04 - 00;20;43;17
Paul Sullivan
What does that mean. And not not not on the, the macro level on the personal. You know, that you're I mean, are you going to have any Republican babysitters for for hot or how does this going to work. Anybody. No, no. Come across the aisle when you.

00;20;43;20 - 00;20;54;05
Jimmy Gomez
Know, like it's hey, I grew up in Riverside, California. I was mostly Republicans when I grew up, so it's not, having Republicans watch watching is not a not a problem.

00;20;54;08 - 00;21;01;14
Paul Sullivan
I think your bar lowers. The longer you have to scramble to find childcare, particularly at this age.

00;21;01;16 - 00;21;02;17
Jimmy Gomez
Exactly.

00;21;02;19 - 00;21;14;21
Paul Sullivan
When you when you're in the California assembly, you mentioned where you work toward paid family leave. You two parts of this question, what were you able to achieve for, for Californians and, you know, was paternity leave part of that?

00;21;14;23 - 00;21;36;23
Jimmy Gomez
So originally, when, paid family leave was passed, it was passed in 2002 and implement 2004. So it was kind of a revolutionary concept, but it was built off of the state disability insurance program. And what they did is they gave everybody five weeks off, no, six weeks off at 55% of your wage. And it was like that for a long time.

00;21;36;23 - 00;22;01;24
Jimmy Gomez
And I believe in both apply. It did apply both to women and men when they passed it, but mostly women were taking advantage of it. Right. And over and over the years, though, this is where it's interesting. More and more men started using it. So like the statistics show that they like the the dads taking time off to bond with their newborn child.

00;22;01;27 - 00;22;32;14
Jimmy Gomez
Why not? And it's wonderful. Yeah. Yes, I know it. And it went up. So and then they started adding other caregiving. They added like a, like taking care of a sick family member, parents, grandparents. And they kind of expanded the definition of family. But it was a stark, increase. And that's when, like, all of, then you started seeing companies in order to be competitive here in California, they had to offer paid family leave as a benefit.

00;22;32;16 - 00;22;57;11
Jimmy Gomez
Most companies were giving it just to, to women. And then the, the that women start fighting back and be like, hey, if like if I have to, I can take time off. Why can't my husband have some other so that it started expanding it? But the idea of men taking time off to bond with the, born child or take care of them, in California has moved in the right direction.

00;22;57;11 - 00;23;24;14
Jimmy Gomez
But where they lag behind men is that women are still the primary caregivers if somebody gets sick. So, and so that's kind of like, what I did is that think of paid family leave as a three legged stool where you need to, wage replacement. But 50. Hey, buddy, 55% of the, 55% wage replacement for somebody for six weeks.

00;23;24;17 - 00;23;45;29
Jimmy Gomez
That's well off is not bad because you have enough savings. Right? But for somebody who's working class that's living paycheck to paycheck or working 4 or 5 jobs a week to make ends meet, like my my parents did. Yeah. And you're struggling on 100% of your salary. There's no way you can take 55%, for six weeks. It just it's not financially doable.

00;23;46;01 - 00;24;07;27
Jimmy Gomez
And then, so what? We know what I did was I expanded that to, to increase wage replacement to 70%, for, people under 50,000 or less. And, and then everybody else got a bump to 60%, but because it's not taxed, it's kind of a complicated math. They were getting about everybody was getting about 80% wage replacement, which is huge.

00;24;08;02 - 00;24;09;03
Paul Sullivan
Yeah.

00;24;09;05 - 00;24;38;15
Jimmy Gomez
That's one thing. And then just this year they expanded it and I, to 90%. So 90% wage replacement. And then the, the number of weeks, how many weeks you can, take off. Yeah. And, and. Oh, well, that's kind of a big deal. I think we increased in California, but that's really costly. And the reason why is that most of the people that use the program are still upper income, 80,000 or more, earnings, people who are earning 80,000 or more.

00;24;38;15 - 00;24;46;27
Jimmy Gomez
So, so then you have job that you so you have wage replacement, job protection people are not going to take time off. If they think they're going to be fired, it's.

00;24;46;27 - 00;24;47;18
Paul Sullivan
Going to be gone. Yeah.

00;24;47;23 - 00;25;09;02
Jimmy Gomez
Yeah. So that needs to be, tight. Where like right now. And that's based off of the Federal Medical Leave Act. Right. Which is what we do. That only applies to people, companies of 50 or more. So if you want to like, help, you have to have job protection for individuals that are and smaller, companies.

00;25;09;05 - 00;25;43;29
Jimmy Gomez
And then, the last thing is just knowing about it. Most people still don't know about the program. They don't even know that they're paying into the program. So, like educating them so that they could use the program when the when it comes. So wage replacement, job protection, just knowledge of the fact that exist. So that's kind of the stuff we're like, so even if we pass a paid family leave program nationally, we're going to have to do all those things, protect people's jobs, make sure that the wages, wage replacement is high enough, and then make sure that people know that how they use it, because it's not that easy.

00;25;44;02 - 00;26;10;17
Paul Sullivan
Yeah. I mean, I was having this conversation, a couple weeks ago with a chief human resource officer at a gigantic healthcare company, that I won't mention because it was in confidence, but she was saying, you know, she did an awful lot to bring in policies, for paid family leave at this company. But she admitted to me it was a lot easier to do it for white collar salaried workers than it was for hourly workers.

00;26;10;17 - 00;26;38;12
Paul Sullivan
And I said, how is this possible? Like you are health healthcare company, you're supposed to be doing good. And she said, it's just math. Like a white collar salaried worker. You can get a couple other people to kind of come in and fill in for his or her job while they're out, but an hourly wage worker, and obviously the front line of this, this healthcare company, these people answering the phones is the people that if you gave that, you gave the hourly wage workers the same amount of time off, you'd essentially have to pay double, you'd have to pay them, x amount of dollars an hour to have it off, and then you'd

00;26;38;12 - 00;26;57;13
Paul Sullivan
be paying somebody else X amount of dollars to take their job because you couldn't leave the job unfilled. And that's that sort of conundrum, is there when you think about that, particularly now, not knowing it on a policy, perspective. But you obviously know from having been in the California Assembly now being in Congress, but now seeing it and knowing we'll get into your family's story a little bit.

00;26;57;13 - 00;27;29;27
Paul Sullivan
But your family story, but seeing it now as, as a congressman who's trying to shuffle his own child care, you know, what do you see in kind of a dream scenario of what could be done either through, you know, through through Congress, through the legislative process, or through, you know, private industry to make sure that, you know, dads and moms, but, you know, the only dads who get to take time off are not just, you know, white collar dads making more than $100,000 a year that all dads get that chance to to to bond with their children and to help out.

00;27;29;29 - 00;27;31;27
Paul Sullivan
How about the moms? How about the working moms?

00;27;31;29 - 00;28;07;02
Jimmy Gomez
Yeah. I, It's interesting. I always, that when we have debates with the Republicans, I say they always have. They always talk about family values, but they never pass, policies that value families and, especially working families. And in order to change our mindset of that, we have to kind of think of policies that target those, those, individuals that are hourly workers, lower wage.

00;28;07;04 - 00;28;26;04
Jimmy Gomez
And the reason why is oftentimes that they're the ones that would benefit those families would benefit the most. Right? They were the ones that would, have a great it would have a greater impact if the father was able to take some time off, or the mother was able to take some time off, that the financial stress wouldn't, be there.

00;28;26;04 - 00;28;53;24
Jimmy Gomez
And, and we know the statistics about bonding and when it's done early, it's done often that the child is healthier in the long term. And and so one of the things I want to to kind of push is that we have to normalize that understanding that bonding with the child, a father bonding with the child does make a huge difference in that child's development.

00;28;53;26 - 00;29;34;02
Jimmy Gomez
Everybody knows that the mother bond doesn't, the child does. But people kind of discount what it means for the father. But studies have shown that, and then, pass policies that kind of, help encourage that. I think ideally we would I would want to say not just 12 weeks, but like six months of paid leave, in the ideal, where people can take that time whenever they need it, and then spread it out, and then you would have subsidies for the smaller businesses, and then target and then build a program that works for, the, the lower income and hourly employees.

00;29;34;05 - 00;29;58;09
Jimmy Gomez
It's always easier to, pass laws that are for like, you know, through a tax credit program or something like that, because those people already have enough resources that they're paying taxes. Right. So how do you kind of like target them and then but at the same time, target the, the, the folks and the reason why, and this kind of goes back to the kind of politics a little bit.

00;29;58;11 - 00;30;21;10
Jimmy Gomez
A lot of people believe that the system is built, in a way that doesn't support them, especially the lower income folks either the tax system, the, the social safety net, or, you know, education that they just don't believe that it no longer benefits them. But there's ways we can do it. We just have to change our mentality.

00;30;21;12 - 00;30;47;13
Jimmy Gomez
And so when it comes to paid family, the child tax credit, and even, affordable childcare, we have to think about, equity. Who needs the most? How do you kind of target it? How do you make sure. But at the same time making sure that everybody feels some benefit to higher income folks you can or middle income folks that are not necessarily rich but are pretty well-off.

00;30;47;16 - 00;30;55;06
Jimmy Gomez
They're getting squeezed too, right? Right. You can't and you can't have them feel like they didn't get any benefit from these policies.

00;30;55;08 - 00;30;58;13
Paul Sullivan
I think because at credit phases out at a certain level of income.

00;30;58;17 - 00;31;22;17
Jimmy Gomez
Yeah, correct. And it's, but it's, what's great, what's tough at the, at the federal levels, when you pass something to make a tweak on it will take years at the local level if you pass, or at the state level, you pass something and the policy is just not working right. You can go back and change it within, you know, a four year period after you studied a little bit.

00;31;22;19 - 00;31;47;02
Jimmy Gomez
So, that's why it's so important whenever you pass something at federal level to try to get it right. But understanding that, progress is cumulative, if we can get any paid family program on the books at the federal level, but maybe but at the same time, still good enough with those those targeted helps working class folks.

00;31;47;04 - 00;32;10;14
Jimmy Gomez
You can build on that on the long term, like the Affordable Care Act. Nobody's going to be like nobody's going to be, they can try. They tried over the years to, rather be funded to repeal it. And, it's it's too late on that one. So I think that we have to kind of figure out how to get those, those first policy wins for paid family leave as well as childcare.

00;32;10;16 - 00;32;28;18
Paul Sullivan
And that is so important. But I always say, you're at the beginning of the movie. I, I've watched the movie up to age 13.5, and one of the things that's interesting is that it is so crucial to get, you know, paid family leave for both, you know, men and women. But, you know, things don't get any easier after six months, you know?

00;32;28;18 - 00;32;52;03
Paul Sullivan
Yeah. As I say, like your kid never ends up in the emergency room on a Saturday afternoon when you have nothing to do. Like the kid always ends up in the emergency room. And the day when you know everything is, is, is chaotic. Is that even something like to think of, like, you know, extra days, almost like, you know, the way we have, like, health care savings accounts now or the way we have, you know, federally funded programs around our, you know, our 41K plus.

00;32;52;09 - 00;33;12;02
Paul Sullivan
Would that even be within the realm of possibility to think of some sort of like, you know, extra bucket of days that caregivers could, could be, could be all parents or sick could be, parents, you know, who have young kids, could could tap into those days and have a designated time to, to to take care of their children who are ten, 11, you know, 19.

00;33;12;03 - 00;33;20;00
Jimmy Gomez
Yeah. Well, that's the, it's interesting in other countries in some countries and even not not even like I'm not talking about like, the scanning.

00;33;20;02 - 00;33;25;05
Paul Sullivan
I knew you were going to say Scandinavian countries. They always beat us every time. We don't talk about Sweden on this podcast.

00;33;25;12 - 00;33;52;14
Jimmy Gomez
But not even a Scandinavian country. I remember I was talking to a friend, his wife was from Belarus, and I told her about 12 weeks of paid family leave and she laughed in Belarus. Right. So you Americans think about the yeah. You know, think that Belarus was kind of this, this pro-family Shangri-La. Right? It was like but they offer more paid family than the United States and substantial.

00;33;52;16 - 00;34;09;20
Jimmy Gomez
And then they can take it at any time. They can take it, you know, when the child's first born. Yeah. I think it's up to a year or something. And then then they they can spread it out over a period of five years. So that's kind of like the thing is like how do you how do you could we ever do that in the United States?

00;34;09;20 - 00;34;30;07
Jimmy Gomez
Maybe. But you know, I want to we have to go from one step at a time. I mean, paid sick days is something that we passed in California, like, you know, the those three. And it took us it was a it was my mind, mind blown when we, we passed that. So I think we have to do we do have to think bigger.

00;34;30;09 - 00;34;37;02
Jimmy Gomez
And then, also more flexibility when it comes to, taking care of kids and using these programs.

00;34;37;04 - 00;35;12;18
Paul Sullivan
Kind of two last question. You mentioned your mom. And if I did my my reading correct, I think your mom worked in domestic service and your dad worked in agriculture. Surely two jobs. They kept them very busy. Working a lot. Right? Very tired when they got home. But when you look back to your childhood and some of the sort of memories or some of the lessons that you got from from your dad or from your mom, what are some of those lessons that stick out for you that that have, you know, that guide your work as, as not just a husband and a father, but also as an elected official?

00;35;12;21 - 00;35;43;27
Jimmy Gomez
You know, I, thinking back, just kind of on my, my parents is that, My, this was back in the 80s, but, you know, they worked a lot. They worked from morning to night, and and I saw them, but I probably wouldn't see them as much as my friends saw their parents. And in the end, the lack of, like, I guess frequency and connection does impact.

00;35;43;27 - 00;36;16;25
Jimmy Gomez
Kind of like, children. Right? Like, for me, I was, I was, raised by my siblings. I wasn't, I wasn't a model student, you know, by any means. They would call me, my my, aunts and uncles would say, I, travel, so, like, Dennis the Menace kind of and, and, so part of it is, understanding but understanding that if you give parents of more flexibility to be with their kids so that they can, don't have to work that many jobs, right?

00;36;16;25 - 00;36;42;07
Jimmy Gomez
That's why I like having a higher minimum wage matters. Why? You know, having be able to take time off when the family gets sick and, and that's when one of the things like my, my, support. Hey, buddy, my support of unpaid family was based on the idea that my parents, when I was seven years old, had to miss shifts from work because I ended up in the hospital with pneumonia, and then because we didn't have health insurance, we had struggle paying the bills.

00;36;42;13 - 00;37;06;11
Jimmy Gomez
So it's kind of we got hit on both sides. And that kind of informed my, like, one of my passions, making sure that we had affordable health care. And then then the idea that, parents should be able to take time off to, you know, to take care of a sick, sick child. And, and those are the some experiences that shaped, how I view things and then also understanding working people.

00;37;06;11 - 00;37;21;00
Jimmy Gomez
Right? It was like parents don't work 4 or 5 jobs a week because they want it, because they have to. And then, you know, and and it stresses them out. Being tired and raising kids is tough. You're very tired.

00;37;21;02 - 00;37;22;05
Paul Sullivan
They're tired.

00;37;22;07 - 00;37;56;08
Jimmy Gomez
Yeah. You know, and then then I'm working all these, jobs. It makes it just harder where you can't really. It's hard to focus when you get home and hard to, It makes it harder, but it's not like it's not the same for everybody. But I know that, if people can work one job, you know, each parent work one job, and they can be someone to take care of the family, the kid, when they get home from school, they can get dropped off where, like, maybe it's a little Pollyanna ish, maybe it's a little, you know, 1950s.

00;37;56;08 - 00;38;29;05
Jimmy Gomez
But I think that in the end, it does make things, better. And, but will we everything I kind of the way I kind of view things is from personal experience. Yeah. And, and then try to figure out if the, the, studies and the, reports support that or don't support it, but, I do believe that, you know, helping working parents in the end is just better for our country, economically and socially and just way around.

00;38;29;08 - 00;38;35;07
Paul Sullivan
So before I ask you the last question, can you bring Hodge, on camera? Man, he is.

00;38;35;07 - 00;38;44;13
Jimmy Gomez
Getting fussy because it's almost says it's an hour before his, his, Hey, buddy. Hey, buddy.

00;38;44;15 - 00;38;51;22
Paul Sullivan
There he is. Oh, look at that. Let's get on there. Are those dinosaurs? No. So. Yoda.

00;38;51;25 - 00;38;52;15
Jimmy Gomez
Yoda.

00;38;52;17 - 00;38;55;08
Paul Sullivan
Oh, man, that is.

00;38;55;10 - 00;38;59;27
Jimmy Gomez
Mark Hamill is one of his, his, followers.

00;38;59;29 - 00;39;17;10
Paul Sullivan
That is excellent. I love it. So. So with Hodge here, you know, last week he talked about how personal, experiences informed a lot of what you've done as a legislator. How do you imagine the personal experience of being a dad, being a dad to a young kid? With with a wife, with a mom who also works?

00;39;17;16 - 00;39;24;22
Paul Sullivan
How do you imagine that's going to inform the work that you do, at least over the next two years in this Congress?

00;39;24;24 - 00;39;53;23
Jimmy Gomez
First, I didn't, I was one of those guys or people that would listen to somebody go, kids, change your life. And I just say, yeah, yeah, yeah, whatever. And then, yeah, you know, he was born and I was like, oh yeah, he really, really does kind of shift your focus and, and, which in a good way, where I kind of, where I understand that my legacy is, is this little guy versus what I, what I got elected to.

00;39;53;23 - 00;40;17;26
Jimmy Gomez
Right. Getting elected is an honor. But that's not really in the end. My my biggest legacy. And then figuring out how to, take care of him in a, in a equal footing or a more equitable footing with, with my, with my spouse. And and it's interesting, like, I wore them on to the floor just because I wanted to, show them off.

00;40;17;26 - 00;40;45;04
Jimmy Gomez
Right. That was that was it. And, and walking them around, I would go and before that, I would maybe when I'm around the neighborhood, go on walks with them because I, I enjoyed it and I think kind of figuring out, how to, support parents who want to do more of that. You know, before it was always kind of like a policy from a policy perspective, but not from emotional.

00;40;45;06 - 00;41;09;23
Jimmy Gomez
Right. Perspective. And I think that's one of the things that is definitely he's, he's he's changing. And then, you know, the mothers often are the default, parent when it comes to a lot of it. So we can I'm trying to figure out how to, play play my role. And then, you know, and see how it kind of impacts my, my policymaking.

00;41;09;26 - 00;41;22;03
Jimmy Gomez
I'm more open to, I'm going to be more open to different ideas and kind of how do we develop policies? And I'm thinking outside the box. But he's going to be there every, every step, a step of the way.

00;41;22;05 - 00;41;44;01
Paul Sullivan
Well, I mean, like you said, what started as a, as a proud, you know, father moment of bringing Hodge on the floor really has had, you know, national resonance. I mean, representation matters. You stood up there as a elite dad, as a as an elected official in the US Congress. And that made and made a real difference. So, I appreciate it.

00;41;44;01 - 00;41;57;06
Paul Sullivan
And I am very grateful, Congressman, for your time today on the Company of Dads, podcast and Hodge, I'm glad that you joined as well, I think. Is this his first podcast? So do I get credit for, you know, is this how good is.

00;41;57;06 - 00;42;05;04
Jimmy Gomez
This your first, first podcast? So he's, he's, he likes it, though, but we're trying to make sure he doesn't get too much screen time.

00;42;05;07 - 00;42;10;18
Paul Sullivan
Well, I remember once we brought him on camera, he settled right in. He seems to be a natural here.

00;42;10;20 - 00;42;19;26
Jimmy Gomez
I think it says this position, they I think they say it helps kids with when they're stressed out. Yeah. So he's right. But he's he's good.

00;42;19;29 - 00;42;21;29
Paul Sullivan
Thank you again Congressman I appreciate your time today.

00;42;22;06 - 00;42;24;00
Jimmy Gomez
All right. Thank you so much. Thank you sir.