npr:

Tucked inside a must-pass defense bill expected to make its way through the Republican-controlled Senate next week is a sweeping policy change: 12 weeks of paid parental leave for all 2.1 million federal employees.

It’s not a surprise that Carolyn Maloney, the Democratic congresswoman from New York, would be celebrating the move. She’s been working to get it passed for two decades, after her own experience in the workplace.

“When I was expecting my first child, I went to the personnel office and asked them what their leave policies were. They said, ‘Leave policies? We just expect you to leave,’” Maloney said at a press conference with House Democrats and labor leaders after a deal was reached to include paid parental leave for federal workers in the National Defense Authorization Act.

But President Trump has declared victory too. “With this important step, we are delivering,” Trump said on Thursday at a White House summit on childcare and paid family leave.

The summit, led by his daughter and adviser Ivanka Trump, landed on a day when Trump was working to finalize a detente in his trade war with China — and as Democrats in the House moved toward impeaching him.

The federal government is the largest employer in the country. But in the private sector many companies don’t offer paid leave for the birth or adoption of a child, and many of those that do don’t give a full 12 weeks paid.

In an interview with NPR, Ivanka Trump said she sees paid leave for federal workers as a first big step.

“It’s very hard for people to say, ‘Well, employers should provide this benefit,’ if we are unwilling to provide it ourselves. So you have to lead by example,” Ivanka Trump said.

Paid Parental Leave: How Republicans Learned To Love A Democratic Priority

Photo: Mark Wilson/Getty Images