With a wave of his magic wand, Donald Trump will make two vexing problems disappear: unemployment compensation fraud, and a lack of standard maternity leave for American mothers.
Well, that’s the latest campaign promise from the real estate baron. At this stage in the campaign, the GOP presidential hopeful is courting female voters. Up to now, his wooing has been spotty, along the lines of an awkward middle schooler trying to catch the head cheerleader’s attention.
His latest ploy: I will eliminate unemployment fraud and create a fund from those dollars that will enable every new mom to enjoy six weeks of unemployment comp.
In a call with the media that was reported on The Hill, a Trump aide called his proposal “a bipartisan solution to the issue of maternity leave. … Our campaign is about getting things done for the American people, and we believe we've found a solution on paid maternity leave that could get very broad, bipartisan support and be completely self-financing."
Of course, unemployment fraud has been attacked several times from all angles by those in charge of the dollars. A national maternity leave policy has been batted back and forth for years, with most working women still dependent upon employer policies and state law for paid time to spend with a new child.
The maternity leave gambit is part of Trump’s evolving family-friendly policy strategy to encourage voters to cross party lines to support him. He has fleshed out his child care proposal, calling for child care costs to be tax deductible.
As for the maternity leave piece, he has yet to elaborate about his precise plan for solving unemployment fraud so that his leave war chest can be amassed without further cost to taxpayers.
And, just in case the idea doesn’t go over well with voters or his fellow Republican policy wonks, he gave full credit for the idea to daughter, Ivanka, during an Iowa rally.
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Dan Cook
Dan Cook is a journalist and communications consultant based in Portland, OR. During his journalism career he has been a reporter and editor for a variety of media companies, including American Lawyer Media, BusinessWeek, Newhouse Newspapers, Knight-Ridder, Time Inc., and Reuters. He specializes in health care and insurance related coverage for BenefitsPRO.
