The Clinton campaign responded with a television ad juxtaposing that comment with Trump’s own attacks on voters, including this comment from a year ago about then-GOP primary rival Ben Carson, who is now a close ally of Trump: “How stupid are the people of Iowa?” “His health is unbelievable, so I should be so lucky to keep his schedule these days”.
Advertisement
While the tone of the speech was more wonkish than the typical Trump address – and for the most part he read from the Teleprompter – he brought the crowd of several hundred to its feet with a reference to Clinton’s recent talk of many Trump supporters as a “basket of deplorables”, with racist, xenophobic, anti-gay and anti-Muslim views.
(It’s unclear whether the leave would be available to adoptive parents.) His proposals to make child care tax-deductible-as well as to offer new tax savings on private school tuition-do much more for the upper middle class than the working poor:Families too poor to pay income tax aren’t helped by the chance to deduct tens of thousands of dollars from their income tax bill.
So while this plan isn’t great, it seems to me like a significant and praiseworthy improvement over the usual Republican approach to parental leave.
It was pointed out to Ms. Trump that Mrs. Clinton does have a plan on her website for up to 12 weeks of paid family and medical leave. Trump said early in his speech that Clinton has no plan, and could never deliver it anyway. As Trump once told Howard Stern about his children, “I won’t do anything to take care of them”. However, despite the fact that offering a family leave policy represents a welcome departure for a GOP politician, Trump’s plan is not only lacking in actual support for parents, but is also incredibly sexist and short-sighted.
Ivanka Trump called the proposals “long overdue” changes for an “inaffordable, inaccessible child care system that we now have in place that’s failing American families”. The issue has become a signature issue for Ivanka Trump, who spoke fervently about the topic during the Republican National Convention in Cleveland.
Even putting aside the paltry six weeks of leave Trump’s plan calls for (Hillary Clinton’s plan proposes 12 weeks of paid family leave, and the average paid leave policy around the world is around 15 weeks), it’s still incredible that in Trump’s America, only women are allowed to take time off for a new baby.
Maternity leave would be guaranteed.
Perhaps more controversial within fiscally hawkish circles inside the Beltway will be Trump’s plan to expand the Earned Income Tax Credit for low-income working families who spend money on child care. Trump barely mentioned the plan at the rally at 7 Flags Center, saving the rollout for a Tuesday evening appearance in Pennsylvania. “This maternity leave will be paid straight out of the unemployment insurance fund and, again, this safety net will be completely paid-for through savings within the program”.
The plan immediately drew praise from Rep. Diane Black (R-Tenn.), who said in a statement released by the Trump campaign, “Donald Trump’s child-care proposal will help provide relief and certainty in these challenging economic times by making targeted reforms to our tax code that are both pro-growth and pro-family”.
Trump said her father’s real estate development company offers paid maternity leave and adoption leave for all of its thousands of employees. She would limit the amount families pay for child care to 10 percent of their income.
“The higher your income, the more you can benefit from tax deductions like the one Trump is proposing”, he said.
Advertisement
Trump would also allow caregivers to claim an above-the-line deduction of up to $5,000 to cover home health care, adult day care or similar services for an elderly family member.
