Overnight Healthcare: Dems answer Obama's call for paid sick leave

Democratic lawmakers will introduce legislation Thursday that would allow workers to earn up to a week's worth of paid sick days a year. The Healthy Families Act, which Sen. Patty Murray (Wash.) and Rep. Rosa DeLauro (Conn.) will unveil on Thursday, would give workers up to seven days that can be used to care for family members or address personal medical needs. The renewed push comes after Obama signed an executive memorandum giving federal employees access to six weeks of paid parental leave by allowing new parents to advance their sick time and called on Congress to create a federal policy for paid parental and sick leave. "Send me a bill that gives every worker in America the opportunity to earn seven days of paid sick leave," Obama said during his State of the Union address. "It's the right thing to do." But the president's plan to expand sick leave largely depends on the GOP-controlled Congress, which is unlikely to support the legislation. Business groups have also voiced concern that the bill would give them less flexibility over their workers' schedules. About 40 million workers do not earn paid sick leave across the country, though momentum appears to be growing for legislation. Three states and about a dozen cities have since passed laws that say workers should be allowed to earn sick leave. Other states have tried to stem the tide of sick leave bills. Eleven states have passed laws banning towns and cities from mandating paid sick leave in recent years. Read more here. END OF EBOLA? President Obama on Wednesday took a victory lap as he outlined the United States' progress in the fight against Ebola, while also delivering a jab to his critics. "Remember, there was no small amount of skepticism about our chances. People were understandably afraid, and if we're honest, some stoked those fears," he said. Obama's speech followed a White House announcement that all but 100 of the U.S. troops fighting Ebola will return home by April 30. Some 2,800 U.S. troops were stationed in West Africa at the peak of the campaign. The White House also said the number of new Ebola cases per week has fallen to about 150 cases from a high of 1,000 in October. While marking the progress, Obama was careful not to prematurely declare the job done, saying he was there "not to declare mission accomplished, but to mark a transition." Read more here. ... WORK IS 'FAR FROM OVER': Jeremy Konyndyk, the director of the U.S. Agency for International Development's Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance, told lawmakers Wednesday that the "the fight is far from over" even as troops leave the area. Ambassador Steve Browning, the State Department's Special Coordinator for Ebola, also struck a note of caution about the progress. "Though the current case rate is falling, there is a long way to go," he said. Read more here. SIGNUPS SURGE IN THE SOUTH: Signups for ObamaCare have jumped nearly 100 percent in some southern states compared to last year, federal health officials said Wednesday. Texas, Louisiana, South Carolina and Mississippi have each seen 80 percent more signups compared to last year. The same states are also reporting the fastest rate of growth in the final two weeks of the current enrollment period, which ends Feb. 15. Each of the states has reported 5 percent more signups over the last two weeks compared to last year. The trend is particularly significant given that the Republican governors in each of the states have made little or no effort to promote signups, leaving the outreach to state and national healthcare advocacy groups. State leaders, like Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal and former Texas Gov. Rick Perry, have been some of the law's harshest critics. Read more here. NOMINEE HELD UP OVER OBAMACARE: Sen. David Vitter (R-La.) is blocking a high-ranking nomination at the Office of Personnel Management, an agency that he says is responsible for an "unfair, possibly illegal" exemption from ObamaCare. Vitter announced Wednesday that he will refuse to allow Earl Gay to become the agency's deputy director because the agency has ignored his questions about what he calls the "Washington exemption for ObamaCare." The vocal critic of Congress's employer healthcare subsidy claims that Capitol Hill administrators ran afoul of ethics rules by classifying Congress as a "small business" on applications to participate in D.C.'s Small Business Exchange. Read more here. STAPLES: OBAMA SHOULDN'T ATTACK TAXPAYERS: The office supply giant slammed President Obama after he accused the company of trying to shirk certain responsibilities of his signature healthcare law. Obama blasted the company in an interview with BuzzFeed after the news outlet reported that Staples had threatened to fire workers who clocked more than 25 hours a week. But the same day that the interview published, a spokesman for Staples slammed Obama's comments and said that he "appears not to have all the facts." "It's unfortunate that the president is attacking a company that provides more than 85,000 jobs and is a major tax payer," Staples spokesman Mark Cautela said in a statement. Read more here. Thursday's schedule Two Science, Space and Technology subcommittees will hold a joint hearing on the privacy and security of HealthCare.gov. The House Energy and Commerce Committee hold a markup on several bills, including one to streamline regulations for new medical therapies and one to improve access to trauma care. State by state Ohio bill would ban abortion after Down syndrome diagnosis Kansas AG pays nearly $1.2M to defend anti-abortion laws Why Medicaid expansion failed in Tennessee Tribal chairman urges Medicaid expansion in Wyoming What we're reading Big business is backing ObamaCare ahead of Supreme Court hearing Complicated politics of Medicaid expansion are playing out state by state US poised to withdraw longstanding cholesterol warnings How to run against ObamaCare in a state that depends on Obamacare What you might have missed from The Hill David Axelrod says medical bills almost bankrupted him before ObamaCare Key Obama adviser says no compromise on O-Care Poll: Majority want ObamaCare subsidies to survive Supreme Court Please send tips and comments to Sarah Ferris, sferris@thehill.com, and Peter Sullivan, psullivan@thehill.com. Follow on Twitter: @thehill, @sarahnferris, @PeterSullivan4