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President Trump Announces Support for Paid Family Leave


Last night, President Trump gave a speech before a joint session of Congress.  Among other things, he touched on his desire to have both parties work on a plan to provide paid family leave to new parents.  Readers might recall that during the Presidential election cycle, President Trump indicated his support for a paid maternal leave option for American workers.  At the time, it was thought that his daughter, Ivanka's, advocacy for paid leave was a driving force behind his support of the policy.

With this speech last night, it appears that President Trump has shifted and now supports paid leave for both new mothers and fathers.  That alone should be applauded given that often times new fathers are not offered paid time off to care for a newborn (or newly adopted child).  Of course, just because the President announced his support for paid parental leave and wants both Republicans and Democrats to work together on the matter, that does not necessarily mean that this proposed policy will become law.  However, with Republicans controlling both chambers of Congress and a Republican in the White House, it is certainly possible that some form of a paid parental leave plan could become a reality sooner rather than later.

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