Parental Leave

President Clinton’s plan to provide unemployment insurance to those on parental leave is simply absurd (Dec. 1). Unemployment insurance is for those who are out of work and in pursuit of a job.

The current family leave already results in a huge cost to business and added stress for the employees who must fill the gap. With the prospect of payment for taking parental leave, there will undoubtedly be a substantial increase in such requests.

RAY ACKERMAN

Los Angeles

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Clinton now wants to augment his compassionate family leave program with unemployment compensation for those taking such leave. Is it not remarkable how easy it is to give away someone else’s money? How easy it is to be generous and have it have no impact on the budget, or on saving Social Security or putting more teachers in the classrooms. Just lay another tax increase on business but never have the courage to call it that.

Intellectual honesty, admittedly not one of our president’s long suits, would require that the costs of this compassionate initiative should have first been identified and then a proposal offered as to how they were going to be covered, e.g. what programs were going to be cut or what new taxes were going to be assessed.

JACK ISKEN

Encino