Women whose employers don’t offer paid maternity leave could collect six weeks of unemployment benefits when they have a child.
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Donald Trump on Tuesday unveiled a set of policy proposals aimed at making child care more affordable, during a speech in suburban Pennsylvania.
The maternity leave will be paid straight out of the unemployment insurance fund and the cost will be covered by savings within the program, he added.
Clinton has also called for paid family leave.
Clinton’s plan calls for 12 weeks of paid family or medical leave.
Trump’s plan would change the US tax code to let parents deduct from their income taxes childcare expenses for up to four children and elderly dependents, his campaign said.
But as a tax deduction, rather than a tax credit, critics say the plan would primarily help more affluent households. More than 40 percent of USA taxpayers don’t make enough money to owe taxes to the federal government, meaning they would not benefit from a deduction. The tax deduction will be available to families earning less than $500,000 or individuals earning less than $250,000.
Trump would offer childcare spending rebates to lower-income taxpayers through the existing Earned Income Tax Credit. The accounts would allow both tax-deductible contributions and tax-free appreciation year-to-year, according to the campaign. When used for helping elderly dependents, Trump’s team notes that the DSCA accounts can be used for covering a variety of services including in-home nursing and long-term care.
On Tuesday, Trump again hammered Clinton over the remark in a post on Facebook: “What a disgraceful thing to say about fellow- hard working Americans!”
Trump also proposed incentives for employers to provide child-care options at work.
Outside analyses of Trump’s tax plan estimate a ten year cost to taxpayers of almost $10 trillion while one of Trump’s economic advisers estimates it would cost $3 trillion.
Rep. Kevin Brady (R., Texas), chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, said he hadn’t yet reviewed the details of Mr. Trump’s plan, saying only that the nominee’s overall tax package “is very close to the House Republican blueprint”.
Trump’s not the first presidential candidate to bring up child care and family leave on the campaign trail. Her proposal includes tax relief but is more focused on government support and broader investments in early childhood education, while pledging to ensure that no family has to spend more than 10 percent of income on high-quality care. Those benefits would be offered on a sliding scale based on need.
“I think millions of Americans were shocked and saddened to see Hillary Clinton refer to people across this country as a basket of deplorables in a prepared speech before wealthy donors in New York City on Friday night”, Pence said.
Donald Trump’s campaign proposal for paid maternity leave is a positive step forward for the GOP, and I appreciate him joining the conversation. But, she noted, it’s not just women who are parents of new children.
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Ivanka Trump mentioned that she was working on this policy in her speech at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland in July. But she didn’t back down from describing his campaign as largely built on prejudice and paranoia.
