Story highlights Bernie Sanders wants Hillary Clinton and other presidential candidates to take a stand on Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand's Family and Medical Insurance Leave Act

The bill would also increase the payroll taxes for workers and companies by 0.2%, or about $1.38 per week for the median wage earner

Brian Fallon, Clinton's press secretary, said before Saturday's Democratic debate that Clinton "fundamentally rejects the idea that we should be willing to raise taxes on middle-class households. We need to raise these families' incomes, not their taxes"

Des Moines, Iowa (CNN) Bernie Sanders wants Hillary Clinton to take a stand on a Senate paid family leave bill that would raise taxes.

At two appearances in Iowa on Sunday, Sanders called on "every candidate running for president" to give their views on the Family and Medical Insurance Leave Act, sponsored by Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand. At a college in Indianola, Sanders noted that the New York Democrat succeeded Clinton in the Senate, telling reporters after his speech that his rival needs to explain where she stands on the issue.

Sanders wants Clinton to endorse a tax hike, a matter of interest to him on policy and political grounds.

Gillibrand's bill would increase the payroll taxes for workers and companies by 0.2%, or about $1.38 a week for the median wage earner. Sanders is comfortable with that increase and has acknowledged that some of his proposals will require tax increases for middle income earners.

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