The Trump Administration has a six-week paid family leave mandate in the works for new moms, dads, and adoptive parents. First Daughter Ivanka Trump, who is thought to be the primary backer of the mandate, is out pushing the entitlement to the public.
Writing a response to an argument in favor of a free market approach to paid leave in the Wall Street Journal on Tuesday, Ivanka argued that the mandate is not an entitlement, but “an investment in America’s working families.”
“Currently, only 6% of workers in the bottom income quartile have access to paid family leave. Studies show that these individuals — particularly women without a college degree — are far more likely to lose or quit their jobs in the event of childbirth, resulting in a far greater cost to society over the long term,” she wrote.
“A 2012 study found that women who took paid family leave were more likely to be working a year after their child’s birth than those who didn’t take leave, and that women who took leave and returned to work were 39% less likely to report receiving public assistance than those who didn’t,” added Ivanka.
According to the First Daughter, who is known to have much influence over the leader of the free world, the benefit would lessen the “persistent gender and minority pay gap.”
“The policy outlined in the administration’s recent budget proposal emphasizes the need for mothers and fathers to have access to paid leave to encourage both parents to share parenting responsibilities and to strive toward minimizing hiring biases,” wrote the first daughter, adding that the entitlement would make “it easier for new parents to return to work after the arrival of a new baby,” which “is a critical part of solving the persistent gender and minority pay gap that exists in part because of prolonged periods away from the workforce and challenges with re-entry.”
The popularity of the government benefit was also noted by Ivanka: “A recent poll by the National Partnership for Women and Families found that 82% of voters think it is important for Congress to consider a paid leave program,” she wrote.
The mother of three added that she “wholeheartedly” agrees that “government benefits should not be a substitute for private-sector investment,” suggesting the national paid leave benefit is merely the “necessary floor from which private sector companies and state governments can build.”
According to Politifact, the 2018 Trump budget “calls for a paid leave program rooted in the existing unemployment insurance system. The program would require states to adopt six-week paid parental leave policies, while giving the states leeway in how they administer it.”
The program will reportedly cost $18.5 billion over a 10-year span. “Financing would come from reforming unemployment insurance — including reducing fraud, helping unemployed individuals get back to work and encouraging states to maintain unemployment trust fund reserves,” reports Politifact.
Rebuffing the entitlement proposal back in September, Daily Wire Editor-in-Chief Ben Shapiro wrote, “So now, presumably, businesses will be forced to cover — or taxpayers will — the cost of hiring a temp, a potential decrease in productivity, and the cost of the benefits. The unintended consequence of such laws: young women aren’t hired because businesses are afraid of covering such costs. Also, Trump proposes new income tax deductions for child care expenses — which is truly just a redistributionist program on behalf of families and lower-income Americans.”