First daughter and senior White House adviser Ivanka Trump said she is confident that despite the political infighting in Washington that Congress will reach a consensus on passing a law allowing families to take paid leave at the birth or adoption of a child.
“Because I’m an optimist,” said Trump at the Bipartisan Policy Center in Washington, D.C., when asked why the policy would gain support. “That’s the only way you get things done.”
Washington, she said, was “not a city that rewards compromise.”
“Is it going to be hard? Absolutely,” she said. “I’m realistic about the time frame and the difficulty.”
[Related: Senate steps forward on paid family leave after more than a year of work with Ivanka Trump]
But she said she is still hopeful, noting that senators held a hearing on the issue for the first time in several years and that the president included paid family leave as a priority in both of his budgets.
Trump has been meeting with members of Congress since the president came into office to convince them of the merits of paid family leave. She told the audience at the event that she had worked to underscore the ways that the policy could not only support better participation in the workplace but stronger family ties. The issue, she said, is “starting to achieve much-needed momentum” on Capitol Hill.
“I feel there is momentum where we are moving beyond the merit to the how,” she said.
Republican Sens. Marco Rubio of Florida, Joni Ernst of Iowa and Mike Lee of Utah have met with Trump to discuss the policy. Rubio is working on a soon-to-be unveiled bill that would allow parents to draw from their Social Security fund early and then delay retirement.
At the Senate hearing on paid family leave, Democrats blasted the idea, saying that Social Security was already inadequate and that people shouldn’t have to delay their retirement. They instead have supported the Family and Medical Insurance Leave Act, which would fund paid family and medical leave through a payroll tax.
When asked about which Democrats have been willing to discuss the issue, Trump demurred, saying that lawmakers count on her discretion.
The most substantive conversations have happened, she said, “Because they know I’m not going to violate their confidence and share their opinions publicly.”
She said she was “open-minded” on passing a bill that would also provide for medical leave, which allows someone to take off work for medical treatment for themselves or for a family member, but said that family leave had the most bipartisan support.
