Ivanka returns to Capitol Hill to talk workforce issues

Ivanka Trump returned to Capitol Hill Wednesday, this time to meet with the House's No. 2 Republican and walk workforce and workplace issues
The first daughter was spotted walking alongside House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., through the halls of Congress
Yesterday she was also in the capitol meeting with Sen. Marco Rubio and others about a childcare tax credit and paid family leave
By Nikki Schwab, U.s. Political Reporter For Dailymail.com and Francesca Chambers, White House Correspondent
Published: 17:49 EDT, 21 June 2017 | Updated: 19:42 EDT, 21 June 2017
Ivanka Trump made her second appearance on Capitol Hill this week on Wednesday, appearing alongside House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif.
The first daughter, and top White house aide, met with the No. 2 House Republican and other lawmakers for 'a discussion on improvements to our workforce and workplace,' a spokesman for McCarthy told the Associated Press.
Last week, Ivanka Trump had appeared alongside her father, President Trump, to promote the expansion of apprenticeships in the United States.
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First daughter Ivanka Trump (center) returned to Capitol Hill Wednesday, this time to meet with House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., to talk workforce and workplace issues
Ivanka Trump (right), accompanied by House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (left), spent part of her Wednesday on Capitol Hill
Rep. Kevin McCarthy (left) and Ivanka Trump (right) were spotted walking the halls of Congress Wednesday
Rep. Kevin McCarthy (right) escorts Ivanka Trump (left) into a room on Capitol Hill for a meeting on workforce and workplace issues
Ivanka Trump made her debut on Capitol Hill Tuesday as a senior advisor to her father and her first act is a push for a paid family leave program in her father's budget and a childcare tax credit proposed by Senate Republicans
Yesterday she made her Capitol Hill debut, complete with giving Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., an awkward hug, to discuss some of her other top issues: a childcare tax credit, proposed by Senate Republicans, and paid family leave.
'Just left a productive meeting on the Hill to discuss issues affecting American working families, including childcare & paid family leave!' she tweeted Tuesday afternoon.
She attended a discussion organized by Rubio that looked at proposals to benefit parents.
Rubio is the co-sponsor of a bill in the Senate that would give families a tax credit of $2,500 per child. Ivanka had previously proposed a childcare deduction, but the White House said Tuesday that it was embracing the Rubio plan.
On Tuesday, the president's daughter attended a discussion organized by Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida that looked at proposals to benefit parents
'Allies on and off the Hill have said that enhancing the child tax credit will best achieve President Trump's promise to increase working families' flexibility,' an official said.
The tax credit will be part of a proposal that the White House's National Economic Council puts forward, a statement indicated.
Rubio has also proposed a tax credit for companies that voluntarily institute a paid family leave policy.
Trump wants to mandate six weeks of paid leave and pay for it with unemployment taxes. Republicans have not embraced the $25 billion proposal the her father's administration included in the president's fiscal year 2018 budget.
Ivanka made a pitch for it at the Tuesday meeting that Sen. Deb Fischer, another sponsor of the paid family leave act Rubio signed onto in the Senate, attended alongside at least seven other lawmakers.
That legislation, which Sen. Angus King, an Independent who caucuses with the Democrats, has also signed on to offers a 25 percent nonrefundable tax credit to companies that offer four to 12 weeks of paid leave to new parents.
Trump's plan would require businesses to give employees who've just had a child, or adopted one, six weeks off.
Ivanka made a pitch for her paid family leave program at the Rubio meeting that's being attended by Sen. Deb Fischer, another sponsor of the paid family leave act Rubio signed onto in the Senate, and at least seven other lawmakers
'I think we're trying to help the same people,' Rubio said of Ivanka's plan to Politico last week. 'I think there's different ways to try to get there.'
The administration proposes to pay for the $25 billion price tag of the program over 10 years with unemployment taxes. The mandate would likely require a tax hike on businesses.
It gives the states broad latitude to implement the mandate, taking into account that states like California already have paid leave laws. California's routes its claims through its disability insurance program.
A third plan that's under discussion would reimburse employees for 70 percent of their lost wages over an eight-week period at a maximum rate of $600 a week.
The compromise plan seeks to marry liberal proposals that ask for 12 weeks of time off for parenting crises and a conservative philosophy that opposes any additional financial burdens on businesses.
Put together by scholars at the free-market-based American Enterprise Institute and the liberal-leaning Brookings Institute, the plan relies on federal payroll taxes and gives states the freedom to provide more generous benefits if they choose to do so.
Isabel Sawhill, a senior fellow at Brooking who helped author of the plan, met with Ivanka at the White House two weeks ago. Sawhill said Trump was receptive to adopting a plan other than her own.
'She said that was just a placeholder or a stake in the ground and they're open to other ideas,' Sawhill told the AP.
Rubio is also the co-sponsor of a bill in the Senate that would give families a tax credit of $2,500 per child. Ivanka had previously proposed a childcare deduction, but the White House said Tuesday that it was embracing the Rubio plan
A White House official told AP then that Ivanka was soliciting the opinions of various groups and individuals who have been working on this issue inside and outside of the government.
She is also building support for the Rubio tax credit that would help families pay for childcare expenses.
'This meeting, led by Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, is the next step in building momentum and advancing the proposal to develop a robust child tax credit,' the White House said in a statement that was provided to DailyMail.com.
Rubio is working with the White House to get the tax credit in the tax reform package that House Speaker Paul Ryan will promise today to get across the finish line before the end of this year.
Rubio's paid family leave plan faces stiffer opposition.
Aparna Mathur, the AEI scholar working on the paid leave program with Sawhill, told FiveThirtyEight in February that she was skeptical that companies would create paid leave programs just to get a tax benefit.
'As with all tax-credit programs, at the margin it probably won't get most employers to change,' the economist said.
If companies wanted to offer a program, 'most existing evidence indicates that companies would be doing it anyway,' she told the online news publication.
Ivanka's discussion today is with Rubio, Fischer, Sen. Steve Daines of Montana, Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa, Sen. Mike Lee of Utah, Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, Rep. Trent Franks of Arizona, Rep. Dave Schweikert of Arizona and Rep. Lamar Smith of Texas
Democrats would prefer a plan that goes further than what Trump, Rubio or the experts at Brookings and AEI have presented. They want paid leave for dependents who take time off work to care for their sick parents, in addition to new parents.
They might be compelled to sign on to a more restrictive plan as part of a broad budget that creates the building blocks for a more extensive program.
The president's daughter, who is more liberal than her father, just might be the one to convince them.
Trump met with more than a dozen women lawmakers in the GOP last fall about her father's childcare policies during a summit at the Republican National Committee's Washington headquarters.
Her discussion today is with Rubio, Fischer, Sen. Steve Daines of Montana, Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa, Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, Rep. Trent Franks of Arizona, Rep. Dave Schweikert of Arizona and Rep. Lamar Smith of Texas, a White House official said.
Sen. Mike Lee of Utah will also attend. He is a co-sponsor of Rubio's child care tax credit bill.
'This administration is committed to working with members of Congress to develop a plan that addresses the burden American families are facing,' the White House said of talks on the Hill today in a statement.