Ivanka scores her own big win, joins Jared as Trump’s secret to bipartisan deals

Jared Kushner isn’t the only member of his family with a winning touch on bipartisan deals in acrimonious Washington.

During the same week that President Trump was signing long-sought criminal justice reform legislation that Kushner helped shepherd through Congress by building a liberal-conservative coalition, his wife Ivanka Trump, assistant to her father, saw final approval of a bid she championed to help women worldwide.

Passage of the Women’s Entrepreneurship and Economic Empowerment Act came Friday in the House and was overshadowed by the fight over border wall fencing, but was a major victory for Trump who spent hours lobbying for it on Capitol Hill, personally nudging those on the fence to support the plan to steer U.S foreign aid to programs promoting women and women-owned businesses.

In the end, the WEEE Act passed with support from both Democrats and Republicans in both chambers last week, giving the president a second major bipartisan victory and providing a potential model for his agenda in the upcoming divided Congress and break congressional gridlock.

The president plans to sign the legislation soon.

“Another legislative priority of mine just passed the Senate: the #WEEEAct,” tweeted Arkansas Republican Sen. John Boozman. He added, “It will help elevate and empower women in the global economy. Thanks to @SenatorCardin & our colleagues as well as the advocacy of @IvankaTrump @CARE & others who helped me champion this bill. We did it!”

Like her husband’s work on justice reform, Middle East peace, and other key issues, Ivanka Trump has been busy with her own portfolio of Trump agenda items such as job creation and empowering women. She recently joined the vice president at the inauguration of the new Mexican president and had a role at the G-20 meeting in Argentina.

She jumped in to help the WEEE act in summer and quickly went to work to promote the bipartisan legislation that urges the United States Agency for International Development, the State Department’s foreign aid arm, to include a “gender analysis” when dishing out money.

A Heritage Foundation report said that when women are given the types of economic opportunity and support that men have, economic freedom follows.

“Ensuring women’s empowerment globally is core to @POTUS’s National Security Strategy. Women are one of the greatest under-tapped resources for accelerating global economic growth & ensuring stability + peace,” Ivanka Trump tweeted.

Associates said that even while she was spending hours as the president’s “jobs czar,” she worked to push the WEEE Act, meeting with lawmakers and outside groups to build support. Trump also worked with departments and agencies to coordinate high level engagement and to ensure consistent messaging, according to officials.

Final passage was not a lock because some conservative groups opposed the “gender analysis” language. But associates said Trump worked to convince lawmakers that the legislation would be a huge benefit to especially poor women in countries USAID operates in.

For example, she worked with bill skeptic Utah Republican Sen. Mike Lee to lift his “hold” on the bill and also with administration critic, New Jersey Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez, to clear the path for consideration and passage. In her campaign, she met with eight key senators and held roundtables to rally support.

After one meeting in which she brought along her daughter, Arabella, South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham tweeted, “I appreciate all Ivanka is doing to improve the plight of women in the developing world.”

She also worked closely with Gayle Smith, the former USAID head who now runs the One Campaign, an international group, and CARE head Michelle Nunn to coordinate outside group support for the legislation.

Boozman boosted Trump during the effort, tweeting, “Thanks again @IvankaTrump for supporting the bipartisan #WEEEAct (Women's Entrepreneurship & Economic Empowerment Act) & working w/ us to build a broad coalition behind this effort to improve women's access to & position within the global economy. Their contributions are needed.”