Theres one key step Congress could take to help the millions of women struggling to care for children at home due to school and day care closures, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) told HuffPost: pass paid sick and family leave in the next COVID-19 relief package.

Millions of women have left the workforce since the start of the pandemic, and this could stem the tide.

This is an idea whose time has not only come, but one that is an elegant solution to the epidemic were in right now, said Gillibrand, who has long advocated for paid leave.

Gillibrand, along with Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) and Reps. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) and Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.), sent a letter to the incoming Biden administration and congressional leaders on Wednesday, urging them to prioritize paid leave.

Emergency paid leave provisions passed in Congress with bipartisan support in March, but the benefits expired at the end of the year. And those measures only covered workers at some small businesses. The U.S. is among the few developed countries that do not mandate paid time off to sick workers.

In their letter, the lawmakers pressed President-elect Joe Biden, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and incoming Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) to extend that leave and expand it to cover more workers.

We need people who are sick to be able to afford to stay home in order to curb the spread of the virus, and to keep their jobs to be able to provide for their families, they wrote.

HuffPost spoke with Gillibrand on Wednesday about paid leave, how the Senate can balance COVID-19 relief and impeachment, and various other crises facing the new administration.

Does it feel like an uphill battle around paid leave at a time like this, when theres just so much going on?

I think it will feel less like an uphill battle after the inauguration. Im going to work very hard next week, to make sure it is included in the next COVID package.

Why prioritize paid leave? Theres also vaccine rollout, state and local aid and extending unemployment.

Obviously, theyre all extremely high priorities. But one of the most significant facts is that last month there were 140,000 jobs lost in the United States. And that job loss was 100% women. Most were women of color.

So we are in a crisis in this country, where women wage earners are losing their jobs, losing their ability to provide for their family, and losing their long term earning potential.

One of the best ways to fix that issue is to offer universal paid leave to all workers.

COVID and this epidemic and the economic collapse have really fallen on the shoulders of a lot of women. Because when children arent allowed to go to school because of COVID, [women are] often designated immediately as the caregiver who has to stay home.

How do you envision the Senate balancing this COVID relief package with an impeachment trial?

Well, the impeachment trial is necessary because of the crimes and misdemeanors committed by President Trump. You certainly can walk and chew gum at the same time.

I believe you can absolutely complete our work on this COVID package. At the same time, we can start a trial to convict President Trump of inciting violence, of inciting a riot, inciting sedition, as well as the efforts he made to undermine the electoral results in Georgia.

Its not that difficult to write the COVID bill now. Weve been working on this bill since May, since the House introduced a robust COVID package. The Senate has been trying to perfect those ideas.