Republican Florida Sen. Marco Rubio offered high praise for White House adviser Ivanka Trump’s work on paid family leave ahead of his dinner with President Trump scheduled for Tuesday night.
Ivanka has been the driving force behind her father’s support for paid family leave.
Two non-profits, the American Enterprise Institute and the Brookings Institution, released on Tuesday a joint report on paid family leave that offered support for the move. Ivanka promoted the forthcoming report Monday on Twitter, adding: “It’s time to make America great for working families.”
Rubio signaled his support for the initiative in a statement posted to Twitter on Tuesday afternoon.
“In America, no family should be forced to put off having children due to economic insecurity,” said Rubio. He singled out the first daughter for praise, saying Ivanka “is doing important work.”
Rubio is one of six senators scheduled to dine with the president Tuesday night at 6:30 p.m. at the White House. His early support for Ivanka’s paid family leave work could be a step towards finding common ground with the president, who referred to Rubio as “Little Marco” while the two were battling for the Republican nomination.
Rubio’s support for paid family leave isn’t something he just latched onto, however. The Florida Republican has supported family leave in one form or another since 2015, when he proposed incentivizing, although not forcing, businesses to offer paid family leave by offering tax credits to businesses offering between four and 12 weeks of paid leave.
Rubio is also a co-sponsor of the “Strong Families Act” introduced in February, which aims at similarly motivating businesses to offer paid family leave through the use of tax credits.