Ivanka Trump Accuses Hillary Clinton of Long-Standing Inaction on Family Leave
Ivanka Trump made the comments on "Good Morning America" today.
— -- Ivanka Trump took aim at Hillary Clinton today in an interview on ABC's "Good Morning America" for, in her view, taking no action on paid family leave to help parents during her decades-long political career.
Discussing her father's recently unveiled proposals on child care and maternity leave, Ivanka Trump called it a "very comprehensive" plan that's "long overdue."
"Respectfully, Hillary Clinton has been around for decades, and there's no policy benefiting either mothers or fathers in terms of paid leave," she said this morning. "We have not been in public office for the last several decades, and she has. So she could have instituted some of those policies in that role and has not done so."
The Clinton campaign has not responded to ABC News’ request for comment on Ivanka Trump’s remarks.
Donald Trump's elder daughter stood by his side as he formally rolled out his child care and maternity plan Tuesday night in Aston, Pennsylvania. While introducing her father, Ivanka Trump recounted a story she read about a woman who left her child in a hot car to go on a job interview because she couldn’t find child care.
"Out of options, she made the tragic choice to leave her young children in a hot car while she attempted to secure the job in order to better the life of her family," she told the audience in the gymnasium of a community center.
"As I have traveled around the country with my father, stories about the hardships caused by our existing child care system — one that is too expensive, too outdated and too inaccessible — come up time and time again."
As a businesswoman and a married mother of three young children, Ivanka Trump, 34, spoke passionately about the issue during the Republican National Convention in Cleveland in July. She is a high-ranking executive at the Trump Organization and operates her own fashion line.
She said her father's real estate development company offers paid maternity leave and adoption leave for all of its thousands of employees.
"And at my own business since inception, I've offered eight weeks paid leave. Only 10 percent of American companies offer that," she said on "GMA" today.
ABC News has reached out to multiple attorneys and spokespeople within the Trump Organization, as well as Ivanka Trump’s company for confirmation of their maternity leave policies. They have not responded to multiple requests for comment.
Donald Trump’s latest policy proposals include allowing working parents to deduct child care expenses from their income taxes, creating dependent care savings accounts and ensuring six weeks of paid maternity leave.
“We need working mothers to be fairly compensated for their work and have access to affordable, quality child care for their kids. That's what we're doing,” he said Tuesday night.
The real estate mogul has credited his eldest daughter with urging him to come up with a plan on the issue.
"She is the one who has been pushing for it so hard — 'Daddy, daddy, we have to do this.' She's very smart, and she's right," he said in Iowa earlier Tuesday.
Clinton has proposed ensuring 12 weeks of paid family leave.
In a statement on Tuesday, Clinton senior policy adviser Maya Harris called Donald Trump's child care plan "regressive and insufficient."
"Donald Trump released a regressive and insufficient ‘maternity leave’ policy that is out-of-touch, half-baked and ignores the way Americans live and work today," Harris said.
Federal law guarantees only 12 weeks of unpaid leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act for most employees.
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