On Thursday, the Trump administration will host the White House Summit on Child Care and Paid Leave, convening lawmakers, local officials, parents, and industry leaders to discuss paid family leave and affordable childcare – issues vitally important to the lifeblood of the U.S. economy and the betterment of the American family.
The summit, spearheaded by Senior Adviser Ivanka Trump, is yet another example of President Trump’s advocacy for working families and further underscores that the Republican Party is now the party of working families.
For example, long thought to be an issue owned by the left, it is now the GOP that is leading the way on paid family leave. Senior Adviser Trump has consistently prioritized the issue of paid leave, and in doing so, has paved the way for paid family leave to be included in two of President Trump’s federal budgets. This marks the first time in history paid family leave has been included in a budget, let alone two.
Meeting with over 60 lawmakers, Ivanka Trump helped to build a bipartisan coalition, resulting in the first-ever bipartisan, bicameral paid family leave plan, which provides for leave through a $5,000 early child tax credit.
Moreover, President Trump will be the first president to implement up to 12 weeks of paid leave for federal employees – another enormous accomplishment moving the ball forward for new mothers and fathers. Thanks to those efforts, over two million Americans will receive paid family leave for the first time.
Paid family leave, though, did not come in isolation. The Trump administration also paved the way for $1.3 billion in additional funding for Child Care and Development Block Grants, affording low-income families across the country more child care opportunities. The historic increase, which nearly doubled federal funding for child care programs, was the largest single-year increase in the program’s history.
Moreover, in the signature Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, the Trump administration made sure that families benefit directly from the legislation, doubling the Child Tax Credit to $2,200 while making more Americans eligible to receive it.
American families have reaped the benefits, with the Department of Treasury reporting that 39.4 million American families claimed $88.1 billion in tax savings in 2019 alone — an average of $2,200 per family.
Despite all the administration’s successful endeavors, the left can’t bring themselves to support the obvious good President Trump has done for working families. Instead of rehearsing Democrat talking points, so-called family advocates should look at this administration’s results. When they do that, they’ll see an administration willing to do whatever it takes to make it easier for American families to thrive.
For there is simply no denying that working families have benefited thanks to the Trump presidency.
The working mother and father have indeed found their biggest advocates in Senior Adviser Ivanka Trump and President Donald Trump.