"The first year and a half was explaining what paid family leave was and why it made sense. “I actually thought the first year (of the presidency) would be around debating the policy, which is where we are today," Trump said. When Ivanka Trump, the president's daughter and policy adviser, got to Washington to push for paid leave and affordable child care, she found conservatives in Congress were nowhere near ready to sign on. Those attitudes contribute to inertia in Congress, insiders say. Some say federal policies for working parents instead would penalize parents who choose not to work. Many say they don't want to pay for child care for other people's kids. Nearly half of all Americans still believe kids are best off if one parent stays home with them, preferably the mother. Polling continues to show many Americans don't see the need for the federal government to get involved in affordable child care – or, for that matter, for women to work. Among the issues: Smaller companies say mandated paid leave, as an example, could cripple their businesses.īut it's more than businesses and their lobbyists. But major business lobbying groups have balked at laws that would require all employers to provide those kinds of benefits. Some companies do provide family-friendly perks to their employees, such as paid parental leave. Some businesses – and their lobbyists to Congress – don't want to sign on to federal legislation that would provide relief for child care costs and require paid leave. It turns out not everyone shares working parents' urgency.
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Outrage-inducing stories pop up daily on social media, on TV and in the grocery checkout line. Working parents feel the frustration every day, lamenting how difficult and expensive it is to raise a family in America. With both parents working in more and more American families, an unprecedented number of women in Congress and support from a Republican president and his daughter, the nation appeared on the cusp of changing all that. Money is tight, and the Phinneys are in the red every month. Whitney Phinney reacts to realizing she prepaid for a day of preschool her son can't attend because he's sick. Neither is losing $7.50 on child care – an amount of money that has become maddeningly consequential.
Or Tim could take their two kids, Brennan, 4, and Sunny, 2, to the drop-in day care at a cost of $22.50. Whitney could cut her workday short, costing the family $15. Tim tells his wife, Whitney, he wants to attend a mental health therapy group Wednesday. But Whitney, who works two jobs and goes to school, says she won't get home in time. He would prefer to return to his career, but the family can't afford full-time child care – and the long days with kids and away from work have taken a toll. Tim, a stay-at-home dad in suburban Denver, is struggling. Whitney and Tim Phinney couldn't have imagined how much time they would spend scrutinizing amounts like these, weighing options that never seem ideal. – The dilemma at dinner concerns a little less than $25 and how much it's worth to this family of four.