Sen. Sanders Introduces Senate Companion Legislation to Magaziner’s Guaranteed Paid Vacation Bill

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Representative Seth Magaziner (RI-02) announced today that U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Ranking Member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, has introduced companion legislation in the Senate to Magaziner's Protected Time Off (PTO) Act, marking a step forward for the effort to guarantee paid vacation time to workers nationwide.

“Every worker in America deserves the chance to rest, recharge, and spend time with the people they love without worrying about missing a paycheck,” said Magaziner. “I’m grateful to Senator Sanders for leading this fight in the Senate. It is time that we deliver this basic fairness to hardworking Americans.” 

“It is beyond unacceptable that in the year 2026, the United States remains the only major country on Earth not to guarantee paid vacation time to workers. This legislation would put an end to that international embarrassment,” Sanders said. “We hear a lot of talk about family values in America, but let’s be clear: When a husband, wife, and kids, during the course of an entire year, are unable to spend any time together on vacation, that is not a family value. That is an attack on everything that a family is supposed to stand for. It’s not a radical idea to require companies in America to provide at least two weeks of paid vacation to their workers. What’s radical is that millions of Americans are not only working longer hours for lower wages, but that they do not receive a single paid vacation day. That should not be happening in the United States of America, the richest country in the history of the world.”

Earlier this year, Magaziner highlighted new polling showing broad bipartisan support among the public forguaranteed paid time off for workers. 

• A poll from the Brookings Institution found that 9 out of 10 Americans support earned paid time off as a basic right, and 72 percent support guaranteeing paid vacation for all workers. 
• Similarly, polling from Data for Progress found that 82 percent of likely voters support 2-weeks of paid vacation for full-time workers, as proposed in Magaziner’s PTO Act. This strong support is across ideological lines, with 84 percent of Democrats, 83 percent of Independents, and 81 percent of Republicans supporting the proposal.  

BACKGROUND:

The PTO Act was reintroduced in July of 2025 by Magaziner alongside Reps. Nikki Budzinski (IL-13), Greg Casar (TX-35), and Jasmine Crockett (TX-30) to guarantee paid vacation time for all workers. The bill has 86 cosponsors in the House.

Magaziner first introduced the PTO Act in 2024. Sanders led Senate companion legislation, the Guaranteed Paid Vacation Act, to Magaziner's bill in the 118th Congress as well. 

The legislation: 

• Provides all workers with guaranteed paid vacation time, usable for any reason and paid at their regular wage. Full-time workers will earn a minimum of two weeks of paid vacation per year.
• This leave will be in addition to any paid sick leave or family and medical leave that workers already have.
• Protects employees against discrimination for exercising their right to take annual paid time off.

More than 27 million private-sector workers in the United States, over one in five, receive no paid vacation at all. 

The United States is the only advanced economy nation in the world that doesn’t guarantee any paid vacation forworkers. By contrast, the European Union guarantees workers at least 20 paid vacation days per year, with some countries mandating as many as 25 or 30 annual days off.

Full text of the PTO Act can be found here.

The PTO Act is endorsed by the AFL-CIO, American Federation of Teachers (AFT), National Education Association (NEA), SMART (International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers), Service Employees International Union (SEIU), UNITE HERE, Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU), United States Tour Operators Association (USTOA), Center for Law and Social Policy, Economic Opportunity Institute, Economic Policy Institute, Family Values @ Work, National Employment Law Project, National Partnership forWomen and Families, National Women’s Law Center, Paid Leave for All, UnidosUS, and ZERO TO THREE.