Meghan Markle Calls US Senators On Their Private Numbers To Push For Paid Leaves

KEY POINTS

Markle called both Sens. Collins and Capito to push for paid leaves
Paid leave advocate Sen. Gillibrand gave Markle the lawmakers' phone numbers
Democrats dropped the provision last week after Manchin raised objections

Meghan Markle, the Duchess of Sussex, has lobbied for senators to put paid family leave back into President Joe Biden’s $1.75 trillion social spending bill by calling them up directly.

In a surprise announcement on Wednesday, House Democrats said they planned to bring four weeks of paid family and medical leave back into Biden’s sweeping Build Back Better plan after they previously scrapped the provision.

It has been revealed that none other than Markle lobbied senators on the issue by calling Democratic and Republican senators on their private phone numbers.

“I’m in my car. I’m driving. It says caller ID blocked. Honestly ... I thought it was Sen. Manchin. His calls come in blocked. And she goes 'Sen. Capito?' I said, 'Yes.' She said, 'This is Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex,” Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-WV, one of the senators who Markle called, told POLITICO.

The Duchess of Sussex also called the private line of Sen. Susan Collins, R-ME, to lobby for the paid leaves. At the time, Collins said she thought it was Sen. Joe Manchin, D-WV, on the phone.

She added : “much to my surprise, she called me on my private line and she introduced herself as the duchess of Sussex, which Is kind of ironic”
— Marianne LeVine (@marianne_levine) November 3, 2021

Markle reportedly received the private numbers of both GOP senators from Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-NY, who has been very vocal about including paid leave in her party’s social spending bill.

The calls come a month after Markle posted a letter urging Congress to add paid family leave to their $1.75 trillion economic plan amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

“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,” she said in a letter posted on PaidLeaveforAll.org on Oct. 20.

Markle also noted that many countries, excluding the U.S., already have federal policies that guarantee paid family leave for all workers.

Democrats dropped the provision from the package last week after Manchin raised objections, saying the budget reconciliation bill should not be used to pass a proposal such as paid leave. Following the Democrat’s surprise move to add the provision back to the package on Wednesday, Manchin said he still opposes the proposal.

"That's a challenge, very much of a challenge. And they know how I feel about that,” he told reporters, according to NBC News.