Amid a political battle over a Philadelphia City Council ordinance guaranteeing paid sick leave to people who work, Valerie Jarrett, a senior advisor to President Obama, threw support behind the city, calling an effort by state legislators to block the ordinance “dreadful.”

The Philadelphia City Council in February approved a measure to require all employers with ten or more full-time workers to offer them 40 hours paid sick leave per year. Domestic violence survivors could also use those days as “safe days” to seek treatment, legal services, or relocation.

“Really look at the evidence,” Jarrett said. “I think, frankly, Pennsylvania should follow Philadelphia’s lead. Don’t you?”

Jarrett made the comments Tuesday during a roundtable discussion at Philadelphia City Hall, part of a national tour by the Obama administration to highlight municipalities with paid sick leave laws.

Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter, who had vetoed similar measures in 2011 and 2013, signed the Promoting Healthy Families and Workplaces ordinance hours after its passage.

That same day, however, state lawmakers introduced SB 333, a bill that would overturn the Philadelphia ordinance by prohibiting paid sick leave laws on the municipal level and voiding any sick leave laws already in effect.

The state senate, which is majority Republican, passed SB 333 last week in a 37-12 vote. The bill is now being considered by the state house, also dominated by Republicans.

State Sens. John Eichelberger (R) and Lisa Boscola (D), two of the bill’s sponsors, earlier this year announced their intention to block Philadelphia’s sick leave law, writing in a memorandum that such laws “create an uneven playing field for businesses.”

Boscola, a Democrat, was in 2005 courted by the state GOP and asked to switch parties.

Jarrett was joined on Tuesday by Nutter, who asked state lawmakers to consider their priorities.

“I think the general assembly should really work on something that does affect all Pennsylvanians,” he said, “which is the underfunding of education in the Commonwealth. How about working on that?”

Philadelphia is one of only about 20 cities in the country to pass laws guaranteeing paid sick leave. Three states—California, Connecticut, and Massachusetts—mandate paid sick leave, and no federal legislation requires employers offer any paid sick leave to people who work.

That could change soon. President Obama made a call for city-level action during his 2015 State of the Union address, and members of Congress this session reintroduced the Healthy Families Act, which would give millions of workers up to seven paid sick days per year.

The proposal was introduced by Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) and Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) as a budget amendment, and approved by a bipartisan Senate vote in March.

The White House sick leave national tour, which will show support for cities, is also meant to drum up support for the federal legislation.

“The United States is one of the only developed nations that does not have a national policy of guaranteed paid sick time, and I believe that this is really an embarrassment to our great country,” said Philadelphia Councilman Bill Greenlee, the main sponsor of the city’s sick leave bill, during the roundtable. “It took us over six years of negotiating and I’m proud to say that Philadelphia is taking the lead on leave …. What we have done here in Philadelphia is a testament to the fact that government and businesses can collaborate to find a fair compromise for everyone.”